Ten Steps Ahead - A 'The Walking Dead' Fanfiction -
by BobbiMiller
Summary: Annie Reilly got by life doing what she had to do. In these circumstances, things are no different. If she had to take on anything, she would do it. Fortunately for her, she wouldn't be taking on anything alone. [Eventual Daryl/OC]
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any plotlines/characters associated with The Walking Dead.**

I let out the long breath that I had been holding, pushing myself to my feet. My brother still remained frozen, his eyes wide and glued to the body. He wouldn't be able to let this go, not ever, and I already knew and understood that. It was just the way that he was. Benny was innocent.

"If you hadn't have done that, I would have been dead," I reminded him in a whisper, hoping that he would turn around and look me in the eye.

He didn't. His breath continued to come out in short rasps. Eventually, he backed up and dropped the gun from his trembling hands, sliding down the wall and hugging his knees to his chest. Although Benny was older than me so many ways, including the literal one, he would always be the baby.

"I'm sorry you had to do that," I crossed the room and dropped to my knees beside him.

"Why were you here?" Benny asked. "Why weren't you at home with Ma and Susie? I thought you were all safe."

"I did too. It wasn't safe to stay with Ma. You know how she's always been. Being cooped up in the house was driving her insane. She… She ended it."

"What do you mean? What do you mean she ended it?"

"I'm sorry, Ben, I truly am… She took a shot at both Susie and I. Damaged my leg real bad, too… It killed Susie. Straight through her chest. Then she turned the gun on herself. They're dead, Ben… They're dead."

Sobs wracked Benny's body, and I reached over to hold him in my arms. I should have been crying too at the loss of my mother and my little sister, but I guessed that I still couldn't come to terms with what had happened only a couple of weeks ago.

After that, I had wrapped up my bleeding thigh and shoved some necessities in a bag and took off to find my dad. He would be working on the outskirts of town in his garage. Well, he wouldn't be working so much anymore but I knew that was where he would be hiding as he had briefly contacted us when everything had gone down. I'd limped through the town, the gun that my mother had placed to her temple clutched desperately in my hand the whole way.

When I had reached the garage, it had been deserted. I'd decided that it would be a safe place to set up camp for a while, just to wait until it all blew over. Then, just recently, my father had surprised me. He had become one of them. In fact, he would have finished me off, if it weren't for my older brother rushing to my rescue.

"Why did you come here?" I asked him. "It's not safe here."

"It's not safe anywhere," Benny shook his head. "But I wanted to see if you were all okay, to check up on all of you. It's a good thing I did."

I nodded, leaning back against the wall we sat against. Benny's eyes lowered to the makeshift bandage around my leg, already soaked through with crimson blood.

"Mind letting me see? I'm no doctor, but I can give an alright verdict," He asked; I shrugged, untying the cloth and revealing the cut I had made in my jeans.

The wound looked as though it could be infected. Dry blood crusted up around the withering skin, staining my ashen skin. I cringed looking at it, and Benny seemed to have a similar reaction. He leant forwards, looking as much as he could at the wound without dry heaving on me.

"The bullet's still stuck in there," He muttered. "I can find some tweezers, try and get it out if you want? Yeah, it'll be painful, but a hell lot less painful when you're trying to get through an infection later on."

"I don't care. Do what you have to do," I agreed.

He pushed himself to his feet, going off in search of the bathroom to see if he could acquire anything that would do for the job. I let my eyes rest on the ruined corpse of my father. Yes, I had expected to see him go before myself, but I had not expected to watch him leave the world this way.

My father had always been a sickly man, complaining frequently of chest pains. When he'd suffered his first heart attack merely a year before, we had known that it would be tough for him to keep on pulling through as he managed to do that one time. I had known that one day I could possibly be facing him on a life machine in a hospital. I'd never suspected this.

Benny came back in my direction, twirling a pair of slightly rusty looking tweezers between his fingertips, a small smile on his face, despite the situation.

"We hit the jackpot. When this is all done, we can loot the place and move on. It's not safe to stay in one place for too long. They catch you up," Benny explained as he kneeled on the floor beside me.

"I just want to know what's happening, Benny," I sighed. "Things like this can't just happen overnight. It's not possible."

"Anything is possible with the right people and the right mindset."

"So, you think that somebody did this on purpose? Somebody created this mutation as a warning to us or something?"

I braced myself for the pain as the tweezers dug into my blistered skin. Howls shook me, and I was aware of the hot tears streaming down my flushed cheeks. The pain of the metal digging within my wound was unbearable.

"Please don't cry, Annie. I'm sorry. Please don't cry."

* * *

**A/N: So, yep, it's a pretty short chapter to start with. Anyway, I really hope you enjoy this fanfiction! It is based on one of my favourite TV shows, The Walking Dead. Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it. **

We trekked along the deserted streets in the sweltering heat. Backpacks weighed us down, slowing our pace, but we didn't dare to stop, not even to catch our breath. If we stopped, there was a good chance that something would happen to us. We couldn't risk that. Every so often, Benny would glance over his shoulder at me and offer a small smile. I barely returned it.

"How long have we been walking for?" I called out to him, dragging my feet along the ground, a good few metres behind him.

"Three hours," Benny glanced quickly at his watch. "Not that long, if you think about it. We can manage a bit more, I'm sure. When it starts to get dark, we can find somewhere to take cover for the night."

"I doubt we'll be able to find anywhere sufficient enough for that."

"Yeah, well, we're going to have to try."

Since shooting down our dad, Benny seemed to have a new-found optimism about the whole situation. On the other hand, my mood had slowly started to drop. I didn't even want to think about this situation, let alone actually handle it. It was a good thing that I had Benny. There would have been no chance of survival otherwise.

"How's your leg holding up?" Benny asked.

"Sore," I muttered, registering my limp. "Don't worry about me just yet, I'm fine… Thanks for everything you did back there, Benny. You didn't even have to come home."

"No, but that's the thing. I did. My family are the most important thing to me. Even though we're the only ones still standing, it still means something."

"Do you think we would have managed to get far? With Susie and Ma and Pop?"

"I don't know, Annie. I'm just glad that I have someone."

I nodded in agreement as he fell into pace beside me. He hitched up his bag higher, looking ahead. We didn't even have a destination. We were just aimlessly walking, hoping to get somewhere we could hide out, even if it was just for a few hours.

Benny inhaled sharply, and I followed his gaze. A few of the mutations were gathered in a cluster around something. There was no way we would be able to get through them, and this was a one way road. There were no turn-offs that we could take to get around them. This was it. It would be worse to turn on our heels and walk all the way back home. Our trip would have meant nothing.

"I guess we're gonna have to just run," Benny whispered.

"Run?" I gaped at him. "You really think we can just run straight through them? We don't even know what they are."

"We'll just have to take our chances. It's better than to just stand here and do nothing, isn't it? Stay close behind me. We'll be fine, Annie. I know we will."

He had a determined expression on his face. I groaned to myself, but decided it would be best to avoid any arguments. Benny had been what had got me through all of this so far, so I trusted his judgement. Anyway, it would be better to be taken out together than to have to watch one another go.

The four mutations had not yet noticed us. I gripped the straps of my bag, walking slowly forwards as Benny led the way. Just as we were almost in touching distance of them, Benny broke out into a run. I copied him, my feet slapping against the ground as I sprinted around the small herd and followed my brother. The noises behind us suggested that we had been noticed, and I pushed myself to run faster, despite how hot and exhausted I was.

Neither of us stopped running. Further up ahead, more of the mutations were gathering, walking at an agonising pace in our direction. Benny took a sharp turn, running off of the main road and down a dirt ditch which lead into the woods surrounding either side of our path. I remained hot on his tail, dodging around trees as we ran as fast as we could. They seemed to be popping out of everywhere the further that we got. I knew I was out of breath, but I couldn't even acknowledge my breathing as my fear was too dominant in that moment.

Suddenly, I could see an RV. It loomed above us in the distance. Our feet seemed to instinctively carry us in that direction as the sun lowered into the trees. We slowed down as we reached the perimeter of the area. People were there. Actual, real life people. It seemed like we hadn't seen another person in years since this had all gone down. The group that were gathered looked up at us. One man stood quickly, not hesitating to pull a gun and aim it at us.

"Woah, man," Benny held up his hands in surrender. "We didn't mean to scare you. We just happened to bump into this place. No need to shoot."

"Well, it looks like we've gained a lot of people today," An older man chuckled to himself.

"Gained?" The man with the gun glared at him. "What do you mean 'gained'? Do you really think we can take on anymore? We're getting more than we bargained for already…"

"I didn't say we were here to stay," Benny said in a soft voice, stepping closer towards the group with his hands still raised. "I said that we ran across this place. You don't have to take us in, but you could help us out."

The gun lowered and the man sat back down. I hurried quickly after my brother, staying behind him. We were faced with a rather large group, and I was surprised to see this many survivors. I had thought for a while that we were the only ones still wandering around in Georgia.

"How'd you get here?" Another man asked.

"We were being chased," Benny explained. "By those mutations. We ended up turning off the road and running through the woods. I'm Benny, by the way. This is my sister, Annie."

No one seemed very happy about our presence. It lapsed into an awkward silence, and Benny lowered his hands. He turned and gave me a grave smile. We wouldn't be able to stay here, not with these people. I pushed my sweaty hair from my forehead, sighing to myself.

"Don't you worry about us, we'll be moving on now," Benny carried on. "I suppose it was nice to know that there'll be other survivors we may have a chance of bumping into out there. Thanks for that spark of hope."

"Hey, now," The old man who had spoken earlier got up. "Don't you go on wandering out there and getting yourself into trouble. Come and take a seat, we have more than enough room to accommodate the both of you. My name's Dale."

Neither of us questioned his friendly face, and we walked further into the camp scenario, taking a seat beside him. A few people in the group smiled at us and introduced themselves, while others simply glared and said nothing, sitting there with a sour expression upon their faces. The man who had previously wielded the gun had a stony face. I assumed that he was the clear dictator of this group.

"Where are you from?" Dale asked.

"Just around," Benny shrugged. "Heading in the given direction of Atlanta. Aren't you all making that trip too?"

"We're in the process of it, you could say. Have to take down many Walkers to get here today?"

"Is that what you call those mutations? Walkers? Yeah, well, not many… I've placed a bullet in one. We outran the rest of them."

Dale nodded. I rested my elbows on my knees, supporting my chin in my hands. As I looked up, I caught the eye of the man with the gun. He raised an eyebrow at me briefly before turning away, back to the previous conversation that he had been holding. It was obvious that he didn't like us. I couldn't understand why. We were just survivors, like them. Shouldn't we all be teaming up together willingly?

I smiled when I saw a group of the kids in the camp playing together. Seeing all of these people did give me hope about this whole situation. If such a large group of survivors could live happily and coincide with each other, then we could surely fit into it too. Or, we could at least survive as well as them at some point, whether it be with them or without. Though, safety in numbers was a good one to go on here. I would definitely be more comfortable in a group, rather than just Benny and I.

Benny had always been the sociable one out of the pair of us, and he was easily warming up to everyone. I sat in silence beside him, answering briefly and quietly whenever someone asked me a question. Nobody seemed to pry too much into our previous life, and I was grateful for that. I wouldn't have been able to describe the whole fiasco to them.

"We have some spare tents," Dale told us. "You two can share one."

"Thank you," Benny shook his hand firmly. "Thank you so much for all of your help. It really means a lot to us. We'll pull our weight around here, I can assure you."

"Oh, don't mention it. I would hope that someone would have done the same for me if I'd been in your situation… Besides, you're young. The pair of you have so much more to live for. We'll see you in the morning. Get some rest. It sounds like you've ha had a long day."

I also thanked Dale, to which he clapped me on the back. Benny and I were pushed in the direction of one of their spare tents. We crawled inside and I breathed out a sigh of relief, collapsing back onto the ground and closing my eyes.

"They're nice people," Benny reassured me.

"Yes, I'm sure," I nodded. "Most of them, anyway. A few of them seem a bit off to me. Shane, for starters. Why the heck did he have to go and pull a gun? Surely he could see that we weren't Walkers."

"Yeah, but you gotta take all the precautions when you're living life like this. Don't worry about him, Annie. He's just a bit grouchy. He'll be fine when he sees that we mean to be apart of this group. Don't fret about it."

"Mhm, I guess so."

"We've just got to do what we can to survive. Remember that, if anything."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it. **

I sat up, rubbing my eyes and running a hand through my hair. It was a given fact that I looked like a mess right now. My dark hair was matted and the bags under my eyes were purplish and bruise-like. Normally, my skin was an ashen shade. It looked sicklier now, barring the sunburn on my shoulders from walking all that way yesterday with just a vest top on. My stomach groaned and I knew that it wanted food, but how could I barge out into a brand new environment and just demand food?

Noises from outside filled my head, and I pushed myself up, leaving the tent. I rolled down my vest to make sure it covered my stomach before standing on the outskirts of the majority of the group. It seemed that I would be the wallflower here. The outsider, as always.

Screaming filled my eardrums and I quickly turned, staring in the direction of the sounds. Benny pushed through the gathering crowd of people, hurrying over to me and grabbing my upper arms, checking me over.

"Are you alright, Annie? Is everything okay?" He demanded.

"I'm fine," I pushed away from him. "Stop it, I'm fine."

He dropped my arms, watching as some of the men hurried off towards the screams. The mothers were desperately clutching to their children. Everyone was checking their loved ones, praying to themselves and hoping that whatever it was back there hadn't laid hands on them.

A Walker was eating the carcass of a deer. The men were beating it to death with the equipment that they had grabbed. I cringed as I watched the blood splatter onto them and their clothing. Benny glanced down at me with a concerned look. Why did he have to baby me so much? I just shook my head at him, hoping that he would get the message and leave me alone.

"It's the first one we've had up here," Dale frowned. "They never come this far up the mountain."

"Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's what," Jim sighed.

We heard the snapping of branches and twigs from the edge of the forest. All of our eyes darted to the rustling of the leaves, holding our breaths. A man with shaggy hair wearing almost everything in leather appeared a sour expression on his face.

"Son of a bitch!" The man snapped. "That's my deer! All gnawed on by this… filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!"

The man kicked the carcass of the Walker. The other men stepped away, allowing him to do so. I folded my arms across my chest, looking down at the ground. There was no way I could watch him go so easily about this.

"Calm down, son," Dale intercepted. "That's not helping."

"What do you know about it, old man? Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to 'on golden pond'? I've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison. What do you think? Do you think we can cut around the chewed up part right here?"

"I would not risk that," Shane glared at the man.

"That's a damn shame. I got some squirrel… about a dozen or so. That'll have to do."

The Walker starts to move his teeth. Many of the formed crowd gasp, taking steps back and staring at the monster in shock.

"Oh God," Amy shook her head.

"Come on, people," The man who had shot the deer rolled his eyes. "What the hell?"

He took the crossbow from his back and shot an arrow right through his head. If anything, it caused more people to gasp and turn away from the scene. Benny raised his eyebrows. I had to say, I was rather impressed by this man's bravery.

"It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know anything?"

All of us headed back up to the camp. I discovered that the man's name was Daryl, upon questioning Dale as I jogged along beside him. I had heard all the stories of the survivors last night, and Dale told me that Merle had been Daryl's brother. Unfortunately, Merle was currently handcuffed to the top of a building out in the city. I was sure that Daryl would not take it well.

The second everyone was back in camp, he started to yell for his brother.

"Merle! Merle! Get your ugly ass out here! I got us some squirrel! Let's stew 'em up."

"Daryl, just slow up a bit," Shane cringed. "I need to talk to you."

"About what?"

"About Merle. There was a… There was a problem in Atlanta."

"He dead?"

"We're not sure."

"He either is or he ain't!"

"No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it," Rick interrupted; so far, next to Dale, he had been my favourite person that I'd come across in the camp.

"Who are you?" Daryl frowned.

"Rick Grimes."

"Rick Grimes, you got something you want to tell me?"

"Your brother was a danger to us all, so I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there."

"Hold on… Let me process this… You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?"

"Yeah."

Daryl lunged forward to attack Rick, but he quickly shoved him off. Benny glared at Daryl, surprising me. I hadn't considered that he would have a problem with this man. He told me that everyone in this camp would open up and I would warm to all of them soon, but it seemed that he wasn't even taking his own advice on the situation.

The conversation continued and eventually calmed down, but I didn't have the heart to listen to it anymore. I took off towards the RV, leaning against the vehicle and evening out my breathing. So far, it seemed that this had all been a terrible idea. Nothing had gone right since we'd arrived. Maybe it was all mine and Benny's fault. Perhaps we were the ones to blame.

As I remained at the RV, I saw Daryl heading over in my direction. He seemed to have his gaze focused on me, so I straightened up and waited for him. What could he possibly want? I had to admit, he did make me nervous. He had a crossbow slung across his back for crying out loud!

"You're Annie Reilly, ain't ya?" He demanded as he stopped in front of me.

"Yes… My brother and I just arrived… I'm sorry if we've disrupted anything in your little settlement here. We didn't mean to," I muttered.

"I'm not saying that you did. I just wanted to know who you were before I accepted you into this group. Did you have any part in locking up my brother?"

"No, I didn't. I've never met your brother. I'm sorry about that, by the way. I wouldn't know what to do if I lost my brother. He's been my rock through all this."

"Yeah, well. You're going to have to deal without your rock for a little while."

"What do you mean?"

"Your brother is heading out into the city with us. He's gonna help me find my brother. Don't worry, we've loaded him up."

I gaped. Benny was really going to go out there with a gun and take those things on? He could barely put the bullet through our father's head, and yet here he was. I had an odd feeling that he was trying to prove himself to the group, for some bizarre reason. He didn't need to, but it seemed that he thought he did. I shook my head to myself, burying my head in my hands.

"Hey, don't you worry now," Daryl's voice softened ever so slightly. "I promise I'll get him back to you safely."

"Thank you," I mumbled. "I can't hold him back anymore. He's gotta do what he's gotta do."

"By the way, when we're gone… You might want to get your leg checked out. I could see you limping from all the way over there."

With that, Daryl Dixon turned on his heel and walked away. I could see Benny watching me from where he stood with the group that were heading out. He offered me a smile and I returned it, signalling that it was okay. I would be okay, and so would he. That's all the both of us needed to get through this.

Benny, Daryl, Rick, Glenn and T-Dogg all headed out. I turned away once they had gone, heading further into the camp. Lori walked past. She paused, turning around and cocking her head to the side as she looked at me.

"How old are you, Annie?" She asked curiously.

"I'm twenty three," I replied.

She just nodded and turned back away again. I shrugged to myself and kept on walking, stuffing my hands into the pockets of my jeans. Soon enough, I reached the quarry. Here, Shane and Carl were in the waters while Jacqui, Andrea, Amy and Carol were doing the laundry nearby. I approached them and stood awkwardly.

"Would you like some help?" I offered.

"Oh, well, if you're offering," Carol smiled up at me.

I returned it and sat down on one of the rocks, helping them out by folding the clothes and laying them neatly beside me. I'd never been much of a house person before all of this. I'd lived with my parents until I was twenty one, and only then had I moved out. At the time, Susie had been six. Ma had dealt with everything in the house, and I would get lumbered with making sure Susie had everything she needed.

Then, I moved out into my own home, only about ten minutes away from my childhood house. I visited my parents every day, almost as if I couldn't let go of them. Even while I had been living by myself, I had taken my laundry round to Ma and she had cleaned me and my house up in return of me looking after Susie.

"I'm beginning to question the division of labour here," Jacqui stated.

Andrea made a noise of agreement.

"Can someone explain to me how the women wound up doing all the Hattie McDaniel work?" Jacqui continued.

"The world ended," Amy smiled sarcastically. "Didn't you get the memo?"

Ed was watching us do the laundry from where he leant against his vehicle. Carol looked up at him nervously, quickly averting her gaze when their eyes clashed.

"It's just the way it is," She mumbled.

I felt sorry for her. It was obvious that Ed was nothing but bad to her, and I wished that she had the guts to stand up and walk away. But, how could I say that? If I were in the same position, I would also be like Carol. I knew that I wouldn't be able to stand up for myself, even if it was the last thing between life and death.

"I do miss my Maytag," Carol sighed as she scrubbed against the washing board.

"I miss my Benz, my sat nav," Andrea continued the list.

"I miss my coffeemaker with that dual-drip filter and built-in grinder, honey," Jacqui grinned.

"My computer… And texting."

The list went on, and Andrea looked up at me, raising her eyebrows. I caught her eye and blushed, hurriedly looking back down to the clothes upon my lap which I was in the process of folding.

"I miss my vibrator," She announced.

The other women all started to laugh. I even cracked a very minimal smile, keeping my gaze down so nobody would think that I was slightly odd and sadistic.

"Oh my God," Amy chuckled.

"Me too," Carol smiled.

They continued to laugh. Ed called out, asking what was funny. I lifted my head and noticed that all of the women took on stony expressions. It seemed that nobody in the camp was fond of Carol's husband. In fact, it was very clear.

"Just swapping war stories, Ed," Andrea said nonchalantly.

Ed headed over in our direction. I blocked out the noise of Andrea and Ed's heated tones as I watched Lori head on over to Shane and Carl. I wondered why she didn't pull her weight around the camp like everybody else did. Was it because she was such great friends with the dictator of this set up? Although Rick and Lori had to be undeniably close as a bonded unit, I couldn't help but think that Shane seemed to have the upper hand on Rick when it came to Lori's heart. After the exchange, Lori drags back to the camp, leaving Shane standing stiffly in the waters.

The women all sighed as Ed remained watching them like a hawk. I refused to meet his eye, scared that he would say something to me. My fingers were aching from folding all of the clothes, but I didn't dare to stand up and move. What would he say? He would certainly not approve of that.

"Ed tell you what…" Andrea dropped her washing board. "You don't like how your laundry is done, you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself. Here."

A shirt is chucked in his direction. Without any hesitation, Ed threw it back at Andrea. She made a sound of surprise and annoyance, glaring up at him.

"Ain't my job, missy," His cold voice cuts through the atmosphere.

"Andrea, don't," Carol warned, noticing that Andrea was about to make a move.

"What is your job, Ed?" Andrea ignored her. "Sitting on your ass smoking cigarettes?"

"Well, it sure as hell ain't listening to some uppity smart-mouthed bitch Tell you what… Come on. Let's go."

"I don't think she needs to go anywhere with you, Ed."

"And I say it's none of your business. Come on now. You heard me."

"Carol."

"Andrea, please. It doesn't matter," Carol said softly, rising from her position.

"Hey, don't think I won't knock you on your ass just 'cause you're some college-educated cooze, all right? Now you come on now or you gonna regret it later," Ed carried on.

For me, it was extremely awkward. I had never seen what Ed was truly like before, so I had no idea how to handle this situation. I certainly didn't have the nerve to say anything. My job was to keep quiet right now, and I accepted that.

"So she can show up with fresh bruises later, Ed?" Jacqui snapped. "Yeah, we've seen them."

Shane started moving out of the quarry as Ed laughs, throwing his head back manically. Benny would have probably hit this man by now. He by no means accepted the mistreatment of anybody, whether it be a woman up against a man or whatever. Yes, Benny wasn't the main tough guy in his camp, but he had his morals. His fist would have not hesitated to collide with Ed's face.

"Stay out of this," Ed shook his head. "Now come on! You know what? This ain't none of y'all's business. You don't want to keep prodding the bull here, okay? Now I'm done talking. Come on."

"No! No!"

"Carol, you don't…"

"Carol, you don't have…"

"You don't tell me what! I tell you what!"

Suddenly, Ed's hand smashes into Carol's cheek. The sound echoes around and I gasp in shock, dropping the clothes from my hands. How could anyone think to do such a thing? He continued to grab at Carol. The girls stood up and attempted to protect her, despite Ed being too big. I stumbled onto my feet, reeling backwards. I'd never seen anyone treated like this. I didn't know what to think.

"Get off her!"

"Come here! Come here!"

"Get off her! Get off her! Get off her!"

The next thing I knew, Shane had thrown Ed to the ground. I couldn't hang around to watch anymore, especially as I knew that I had been such a coward with dealing with it. Instead, I turned away from the scene and hurried back up towards the camp. Nobody deserved to be treated like that, nobody at all.

Dale was still atop of the RV when I walked through the clearing of trees. He waved to me and I quickly reciprocated his actions, dashing over towards my tent. I dropped to my hands and knees and crawled inside. When inside, I wrapped my arms around my legs which I had drawn to my chest, rocking back and forth. My eyes were squeezed shut as I tried to rid the horrid image from my mind.

His face had not been apologetic at all. He had thrived on slapping that innocent woman. By no means were my parents the best couple, but they never laid a hand on each other in a disrespectful manner. My father had raised Benny to treat women with respect as they were what would keep the world spinning, and my mother had told me to never fall victim to a man, simply because he thought he was bigger than you. I wished that my parents were still around now. They would have been excellent martyrs for this camp. Unfortunately, my father was completely dead. Ma and Susie had probably reanimated now, still in the attic of our family home. If Ma hadn't gone mad, she could have joined us on this journey. It was unfortunate timing.

Even though I seemed to be having a mental breakdown, I knew that Benny wouldn't be around to help me out this time. And I would have to start getting used to that, as it could possibly become a recurring situation. If this had been a normal day, before all of this happened, Benny would have been with me. He would have soothed me and calmed me down and it would have worked. My older brother and I had always been close, despite him being seven years older at the age of 30. Susie was much younger, which is why I had never formed a sibling bond with her. It just felt like babysitting most of the time. But Benny and I had always been thick as thieves. No matter what, we'd always cover for each other. We always had each other's backs. I prayed that he would make it back here alive.

I managed to calm down, quickly wiping the tears that had tracked my flushed cheeks. Clumsily, I got to my feet and stumbled outside of the tent. Lori, who was just walking by, stopped in her tracks. She tilted her head at me as she looked me up and down, a sympathetic smile forming on her face.

"Hard without him, huh?" She asked knowingly.

"Yeah," I said in a hoarse voice, laughing slightly. "Since all of this begun, it's the first time we've properly been separated. He thinks he has to prove himself to the group."

"No, I don't think our men would have judged him if he'd decided to hang back. It's a tough one, going out there. I don't think I'd have the guts."

"I can second that. Do you think they'll be okay, though? Do you think they'll make it back alive? I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I lost my big brother."

"Of course I think they'll make it back. Anyway, they've got a good team out there. Your brother knows how to take care of himself, Annie. Don't fret yourself silly. They'll be back here in no time, just you wait and see."

I nodded, straining as I smiled at Lori. She reached forward and patted me on the shoulder before taking off. Was I crying about Benny? Or was I crying about how much of a coward I was? If I couldn't handle confrontation, there would be no way that I could handle the Walkers out there. It was a given fact.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it. **

"Oh, baby. Will you look at that? Hey, check it out. Ladies… Because of you, my children will eat tonight. Thank you," Morales grinned as they approached.

"Thank Dale," Andrea shrugged it off. "It's his canoe and gear."

I smiled as the conversation carried on. It was nice to listen to everyone sound so animated and cheerful, despite how we were living now. It made me feel more comfortable, more at home. If it weren't for the peppy voices and the exchanging of light-hearted jokes and laughs, I don't know how I would have managed to keep myself sane in this camp.

While the others headed up to higher ground to go and see what Jim was doing, I decided to hang back. It wasn't any of my business what the man was up to and I didn't want to interfere in situations that had nothing to do with me. But, I decided that it was time for me to settle something.

Ed was on his fold up bed in the tent as I unzipped the entrance, stepping in. It was a reckless and stupid thing for me to do, but I had to. I had to straighten things out.

"What do you want now?" Ed snapped, not turning round.

"I… It's Annie," I replied meekly.

There was a pause before Ed turned on his side to face me. I held back a yelp of surprise when I saw how bruised and yellowed his face was. Had Shane really taken out that much on him? Ed snorted as he saw me staring. I quickly averted my gaze, already scared enough of the man as it was.

"Well, what do you want?" Ed demanded, not changing his tone.

"It's best you don't get so heated," I folded my arms, kicking at the floor slightly with the tip of my toe. "I just wanted to tell you that I think the way you treat Carol is real awful, you know that?"

"What is this? You come to give me a telling off? Well, I'll tell you something, little girl… She's my wife, and therefore she is my business. You ain't got no right to come in here and interfere in my marriage. What I do is down to me."

"That's the thing, Ed, it's not. When you do it in front of everyone, it becomes everyone's problem. You can't go around pulling stunts like that, not no more. I don't want to hear of it again. Yeah, I may not be a threat to you, but I just wanted to warn you off. Other people won't take so lightly to the situation."

"You really think that I'm going to listen to a naïve little girl? You don't know shit about how things are run around here! Don't you get it? You're a woman!"

I felt myself becoming very angry towards Ed, but I knew that I couldn't lose control. I'd already done enough already by dangerously coming to seek him out by myself. He was still glaring at me through his swollen eyes when I looked back at him. I simply shrugged, turning on my heel and leaving the tent without another word.

A part of me hoped that he wouldn't mention my visit to anyone. I'd seem like the bad guy if I was running around behind everyone else's backs to try and sort out something that was way out of my league. I had no idea why I did it in the first place… Maybe just to put my mind at ease. To assure myself that I wasn't as bad a person as I thought I was.

When I reached the main area of the camp, I noticed that Shane was tying up Jim to a tree. Lori and Carol were sat with Sophia and Carl while they did some colouring. Dale approached Jim with some water, offering it to him.

"What happened?" I asked lightly as I made my way over to Lori, Carol and their children.

"Jim's gone mad," Sophia told me. "He's been digging up graves."

"Now, now, Sophia," Carol hushed her. "We don't go talking about people when we don't know the full story now, do we?"

"She's right," Lori shook her head. "The heat's got to his head, I reckon. He's lost it, I'm telling you. Nobody acts like that. He can barely even remember it all."

Lori didn't look happy at all. I took that as the sign to back away from the conversation, before I landed myself into an argument with the wrong person. She was definitely not someone who I wanted to get on the wrong side of.

I trudged up towards the RV, taking the liberty of climbing onto the roof and assigning myself to watch as nobody else was there to do so. It was nice and shady under the umbrella, and I relaxed thankfully into the deck chair. The view from here was beautiful. It was a shame that we had to be so wary of it all.

Andrea was entering the RV from down below, and Dale wasn't very far behind her. Slowly, the camp seemed to ease back into some normality, if that was possible. As the skies darkened, I lowered myself from the RV, ditching the binoculars on the way. The group were cooking up some fish. I would have loved to be able to offer my help and assistance to them, but I really was a useless little girl, like Ed had said. I couldn't even cook a meal. There was almost no chance of me surviving out here.

We all sat down around the fire, enjoying the fish dinner. If it weren't for the impending danger keeping us all on our feet, I think that it could have been easily passed off as just a family camping trip.

"I've got to ask you, man," Morales spoke up. "It's been driving me crazy."

"What?" Dale smiled at him.

"That watch."

"What's wrong with my watch?"

"I see you every day, the same time, winding that thing like a village priest saying mass."

"I've wondered this myself," Jacqui smiled, setting her food aside.

I'd also noticed Dale's little quirk as I'd seen him around the camp. He chuckled to himself as we all remained watching him, wanting to know his reply.

"I'm missing the point," He shook his head.

"Unless I've misread the signs, the world seems to have come to an end," Jacqui said, causing everyone to chuckle. "At least hit a speed bump for a good long while."

"But there's you every day winding that stupid watch," Morales nodded.

"Time… It's important to keep track, isn't it? The days at least. Don't you think, Andrea? Back me up here. I like… I like what, um, a father said to son when he gave him a watch that had been handed down through generations. He said 'I give you the mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine of my father's before me; I give it to you not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it for a moment now and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it.'"

We all sat and silently took in the words of the older man. He smiled around at all of us. He was trying to keep everything the same as it had been once before. I appreciated that.

"You are so weird," Amy said, and we all burst out laughing.

"It's not me," Dale grinned. "It's Faulkner. William Faulkner. Maybe my bad paraphrasing."

Amy pushed herself up from the crate that she was sitting on, brushing her hands on her jeans. A majority of us turned towards her, our eyebrows raising in question.

"Where are you going?" Andrea asked.

"I have to pee. Jeez, you try to be discreet around here…"

Once again, all of us end up laughing. The whole night had gone so smoothly without any hitch, including between everyone. I smiled, standing up and collecting up the plates that people were finished with. If I could do anything, I could clean up a mess awfully good.

I carried the stack of dishes away from the fire, heading towards a tub of water that we had out by the tents. It was quiet round here. I realised that if I were to scream from this area, it would take longer to hear me. Nobody would come to save me instantly. It would be an unfortunate death, if it were to happen.

I dropped to my knees beside the water basin, dumping in the dishes and rolling up the sleeves of my shirt. My hands plunged into the warm waters and I scrubbed at the metal and china, cleaning them to the best that I could.

Suddenly, behind me, I heard a roughs scream. The tent which Carol, Sophia and Ed occupied was shaking and quivering just out of my line of sight. All that time I'd had my back turned, I hadn't noticed the multiple Walkers that had approached the camp. How could I have been so stupid to have turned away for just a second when I was on my own? They had reached Ed, and they would turn to me next.

A high pitched scream echoed from the other side of the camp. A Walker glanced up from the tent, almost seeming to meet my gaze. My mouth was too dry to scream and I seemed frozen in place. The second that the Walker started to head in my direction, I turned on my heel and I ran. I ran as fast as I had in the woods when Benny and I had been chased by a herd of them.

My footsteps carried me out into the main area of the camp, where havoc had ensued. Walkers overtook the area. Our campmates were fleeing in any direction that they could, and a majority of the men had taken up to firing down the mutations with their guns. Ever since leaving with Benny, I had always kept a pistol tucked into the back waistband of my jeans. I quickly whipped it out, clutching it tightly in my grip.

I noticed that Andrea had dropped to the floor. Her sister had been bit. I wanted to feel something, but I didn't have the time to stop and check on her. Shane was trying to lead everyone off to the same area, but everyone got split up during their fright.

The Walker that had followed me from the tent was backing me up. The gun shook in my hands and I found myself backed up against a tree, not knowing what to do with it. He approached me faster. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that I would wake up and that this would all just be a nightmare.

A gunshot close by surprised me, and my eyes fluttered open. The Walker before me had dropped. I turned my head and saw Daryl standing there, his rifle pointed in our direction. He had saved me. Daryl Dixon had shown up and saved my life. He simply nodded his head in acknowledgement before taking off, knocking down more Walkers on the way.

That meant Benny had to be here. I prayed that he had gotten back safely too. I'd seen T-Dogg, Rick and Glenn, and I could only assume that Benny was alive and back. I ran around the perimeter of the camp, watching as more Walkers dropped dead. Almost all of them had been taken out now. I didn't spot Benny until the last one had dropped to the ground.

"Annie!" He yelled, turning around hopelessly in search of me.

"I'm here, Benny!" I ran towards him, throwing my arms around his neck tightly. "God, I'm so glad that you're back Ben, I really am. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

He rubbed my back soothingly, burying his face into my hair. We remained like that for what seemed forever until I pulled way, looking over at Andrea who was still crouched beside Amy. Of course it was an awful shame. Amy had been a lovely girl, and Andrea didn't deserve to lose her sibling. Nobody did. I wanted to feel happy that I still had Benny, but I knew that I couldn't. Not while Andrea was suffering of what I feared the most.

"I remember my dream now," Jim broke the silence. "Why I dug the holes."


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

"She's been hugged over that dead body for hours now," Benny sighed. "How can you tell someone in that position to back away?"

"You can't," I shook my head. "And I won't be the one to do it. She needs her time to mourn, so give her that. I wouldn't appreciate if someone was trying to drag me away."

Various people attempted to make Andrea see the light, but she always sent them away with her silence. Benny had tried to talk to her, but she had snapped. I refused to disturb the poor girl, and decided on just watching the other campmates as they disposed of all of our fallen and the Walkers.

"So, how did everything go?" I asked my brother, realising that I hadn't gotten the chance to talk to him about his little trip.

"Merle wasn't there when we arrived," Benny shrugged. "Looks like he hacked off his hand and made a runner. By the look of things, it also seems that he's jacked our van and took off with that too."

"I never met the sorry excuse of a man, but from what I've heard… It wouldn't surprise me."

"We did bump into a bit of trouble."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Maybe I'll tell you the story another time. I don't think now is quite the right moment to explain it all to you. Remind me when you next get the chance, and we can talk. It's a bit of a long tale anyway."

Benny nodded briefly at me before going to offer his help to Daryl, who handed him an axe. I focused on Daryl as he dragged the bodies back and forth. I still hadn't had the chance to thank him for last night, and I fully intended to do so. He glanced up from his work as he wiped his brow, catching my eye. He raised an eyebrow and I took that as the go ahead sign. I approached him with my hands stuffed into my back pockets.

"Thank you. Thank you, for yesterday," I barely whispered when I stood before him.

"You should learn how to use that gun of yours," Daryl snorted. "I wouldn't have had to take that walker out if you'd known how to shoot."

"Yeah, well, it's not my fault that I've never had to learn to shoot before. I was only trying to say thanks, Daryl. Don't give me any grief for it."

"It don't matter. You need to be able to shoot. Take it up with your brother… He ain't got a bad aim for someone from the big city."

With that, Daryl turned away from me and resumed his work. I couldn't tell whether he was cold and off with me or not. Was this how he normally reacted to people? I sighed and kicked the dirt on the floor with my shoe, backing up. Benny glanced at me curiously. I just shook my head at him. He'd probably think that I was trying to make a deal with the devil if he knew that I was trying to get into conversation with Daryl Dixon. He wasn't exactly the most respected man around camp.

"A Walker got him!" Jacqui suddenly yelled out. "A Walker bit Jim!"

Everyone surrounded him with worried expressions on their faces. Jim's face dropped. I didn't know whether to be scared or exasperated that something else had gone wrong in the short time that we had experienced from the attack to burying and burning the bodies.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," Jim assured us.

"Show it to us," Daryl demanded. "Show it to us!"

"Easy, Jim…"

"Grab him!"

Jim reached down and grabbed the shovel that he had dropped from the floor, brandishing it at all of us. T-Dogg ran up behind him and held him back. He could not stop repeating that he was okay. Daryl hesitated before moving forwards, lifting up Jim's shirt. A deep bite wound decorated his stomach.

Although it may have been seen as cowardly, I never wanted to get involved in any of the conversations that followed the little accidents that happened in camp. While the guys, along with Lori and Jacqui, talked about Jim's case, I went and sat on a crate by the fire pit. My hands brushed off dirt from my jeans. I inspected my fingernails and my skin as I did so, realising how dirty I had actually become.

Everyone and everything around here was adorned with a ripe smell, and I couldn't help but feel disgusted. How could we go on living this way? Benny and I would have been better off heading back home and staying there, until this all died down. It had to at some point. Nothing could go on forever. And when it was over, we could go back to attempting to lead our previous lives. We would have been normal again.

A little while later, I noticed Benny heading in my direction. I rolled my eyes slightly. Did he have to get so involved in everything? It wasn't as if all of this was anything to do with him. We could have walked away. We didn't have to take other's burdens. It just wasn't fair for us.

"They're planning on heading down to the C.D.C," Benny explained, standing above me with authority, his hands on his hips; was he really that much above me now?

"Mhm?" I barely looked up. "And what? You think that it's the safest option?"

"Right now, yeah, I do. We don't have any other option, Annie; we've got to take what we can get. I'm not telling you, but I will offer it to you. We can go with them, if you like. Safety in numbers and all that! We'd be safer, and you know that."

"Of course I know that, Benny, of course I do. But do you really want to carry on living your live lingering on to someone else's luck?"

"We're apart of this family now, if you hadn't noticed. They respect and accept us. Can't you see that? We've been welcomed with open arms. Now, I think it would be respectful if we took them up on their offer. They've done so much for us already. It's only fair that we return the favour."

"Look, Ben, I don't care what you decide. Whatever you do, I'll stick by you. You're my brother, and I respect you and your decisions. Just don't get me roped into the little family gimmick. I'm not here to play happy families."

Benny sighed, but he nodded. I was glad that he didn't push it any further. I don't think that I would have been able to handle any more of him.

A gunshot rung out and I glanced up. That was it. Amy was gone. I doubted that Andrea had accepted the death, but it had happened. She had put a bullet through Amy's brain. I wouldn't have known what to do if I had been forced to shoot my brother down dead. I probably wouldn't have done. I'd have just asked someone else to do my dirty deeds for me. In every way possible, I was weak.

Later that afternoon, a sort of funeral is staged. We watch as Andrea and Dale drag Amy's body across the ground.

"I can do it!" Andrea snapped. "I can do it! I can do it! I can do it."


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

"Everybody listen up," Shane calls out to us as we stand grouped around in front of the vehicles. "Those of you with C.B.s, we're gonna be on channel 40. Let's keep the chatter down, okay? Now you got a problem, don't have a C.B., can't get a signal or anything at all, you're gonna hit your horn one time. That'll stop the caravan. Any questions?"

Benny had agreed for the pair of us to join in on the journey. Dale had offered to let us drive up with him in the RV, seeing as we'd travelled on foot. I had no problem with travelling that way, but I was slightly anxious about Jim being there.

"We're, uh…" Morales spoke up. "We're… we're not going."

"We have family in Birmingham. We want to with our people."

"You go on your own, you won't have anyone to watch your back," Shane warned.

I had to say, I was surprised. Morales and his family had always seemed like strong members within the group. They would have been the last people that I would have thought would just up and leave. But, I suppose that they had their reasons. No one else did.

"We'll take the chance," Morales shrugged. "I got to do what's best for my family."

"You sure?" Rick checked.

"We talked about it. We're sure."

"All right. Shane."

"Yeah, all right."

"347?"

"Yeah."

Rick and Shane hand Morales a gun and some ammo, and then the goodbyes and the good lucks are exchanged. I smiled as Morales ruffled my hair. He'd been a strong character within the camp, and I'd loved to listen to his stories around the campfire. He had always been the one with the wildest anecdotes.

"Channel 40 if you change your minds."

Morales, Miranda and their two children agree and head away to their car. The rest of us are left standing around the vehicles, staring at each other. I hitch my bag higher up my shoulder. Benny reaches over to take it from me, but I quickly step away. I didn't want anyone else to start treating me like a little kid.

"What makes you think our odds are any better?" Shane grumbled. "Come on. Let's go. Let's move out."

All of us climbed into the separate cars. I walked up the steps of the RV, going to sit on one of the sofas across from Jim. He definitely looked a lot worse. I didn't want to risk sitting too close to him. He had his eyes closed and sweat dripped from his skin. Suddenly, the RV lurched forward, and we were pulling out onto the road. This was it. This was the beginning of our new journey. The new chapter of our lives.

"I told you we'd never get far on that hose," Dale sighed as we all stood grouped around the front of the RV. "I said I needed the one from the cube van."

"Can you jury-rig it?" Rick asked

"Hey, look, let me have a look," Benny intercepted. "Our Pa owned a garage. I worked up there sometimes. I might be able to get a good look into the engine, if you don't mind of course, Dale."

"Be my guest."

Benny went to work and we all found ourselves standing outside in the blistering heat. Like Shane had suggested, we could turn back and head to FortBenning, but it was too far now. We wouldn't make it on the amount of gas that we had.

"Y'all, Jim…" Jacqui appeared from the RV. "It's bad. I don't think he can take anymore."

Shane and T-Dogg leave the group to drive up ahead in search of a replacement while Rick goes to check on Jim. I can't even bear the thought of going to see him. He'd been in agony the whole ride, wheezing at every bump in the road.

I leant against the side of the RV as Benny and Dale worked, closing my eyes. A shadow cast over me caused me to bring my hand to visor my eyes as protection from the sun, seeing who it was. Daryl stood there.

"Ain't you got anything that you could be doing right now?" He almost demanded, as if I should be working while we were caught up in this predicament.

"What do you expect me to do, Daryl?" I asked. "If you can find something to keep me busy, then do inform me. It's not like I have anything better to do."

"I didn't mean it like that, Jesus. Can't you give Benny and Dale a hand or something?"

"My brother is the one who knows about the cars, not me."

"Look, I just don't want you standing around here and looking like a sorry case."

I laughed in disbelief. Was this guy being serious? He groaned to himself, running a hand through his hair. He considered me as a sorry case, and he wasn't going to be taking that one back anymore. I just shook my head, pushing myself away from the RV and waited for Rick to return with the news.

"It's what he says he wants," Rick explained as we huddled in a group upon his return from talking with Jim.

"And he's lucid?" Carol checked.

"He seems to be. I would say yes."

"Back in the camp when I said Daryl might be right and you shut me down, you misunderstood," Dale said. "I would never go along with callously killing a man. I was just gonna suggest that we ask Jim what he wants. And I think we have an answer."

"We just leave him here?" Shane asked. "We take off? Man, I'm not sure I could live with that."

"It's not your call, either one of you," Lori replied.

In the end, Rick and Shane ended up carrying Jim to a nearby tree. He groaned and chuckled, pointing out that they'd decided to ditch him beneath a tree again. If he hadn't been the way he was, it might have been a funny joke to crack. However, all of us stood there awkwardly, avoiding looking him in the eye.

"Hey, Jim…" Shane rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean, you know it doesn't need to be this."

"No, it's good," Jim smiled. "The breeze feels nice."

"Okay. All right."

Everyone took turns saying their goodbye. I simply crouched down beside him, offering a smile and a simple thank you before turning away. Tears pricked my eyes, and the last thing I wanted anyone to do was to see me cry. Lori had come close, and that would be it. I didn't even know Jim that well, but I felt that everyone here had an emotional bond just by being thrown together in this ungodly way.

Rick lingered back to talk to Jim as the rest of us skidded our way down the grassy slope. Benny was wiping his hands on an oily rag as he followed behind me.

"Did you get it all fixed up?" I asked over my shoulder.

"Yeah, it should be good and ready to go again," He nodded.

We all separated and got into the different vehicles. Jim remained sitting under the tree, leaning against the bark with his eyes closed. It pained me to leave him after he'd done so much for us, but it was what he wanted. We couldn't strip him of his choices in his last few hours of life.

It seemed reluctant, but everybody eventually departed and we were soon trailing each other on the deserted roads again, watching out at the windows and saying our final goodbyes to Jim.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

The RV pulled up outside the compound of the C.D.C. We stepped out of the vehicle, examining the area around us. Corpses littered the floor, and swarms of flies littered the corpses. I groaned under my breath as the smell hit my nose. Sure, everybody in camp had been kicking up, but it was nothing as bad as this.

Quietly, once we were all out of the cars and together again, we started to approach the building. We stepped around the bodies, hoping that none would suddenly sit up and start charging after us. My eyes flitted to each individual as I chose my path, creeping silently past the people who had once been just like me. Had they worked here? I didn't know. I assumed that they were like us; they had come looking for a cure, but it had been an unsuccessful journey. But now that we didn't have Jim with us, what was the point of heading in this direction? It just didn't make any sense anymore, like most things that we were doing.

"All right, everybody," Shane called out. "Keep moving. Go on. Stay quiet. Let's go. Okay, keep moving. Stay together."

Rick joined in with the ushering and shushes silenced the group. I caught Lori's eye as we were heading towards the entrance. I couldn't read the expression, but she didn't seem impressed with me. Maybe it was because I didn't pull my weight around enough in the previous battle. That would be a perfectly good reason for her being off with me. She had an excuse not to fight. She had a son.

Upon closer inspection, we realised that the building was locked and shuttered. Sighs and murmurs filled the group. Shane moved forward and pounded on the door. It was obvious that there wasn't going to be any answer. This place was a graveyard.

"There's nobody here," T-Dogg stated.

"Then why are those shutters down?" Rick demanded, pointing at them.

"Walkers!"

Daryl's sudden cry caused all of us to turn. Before any of us could react, he had already shot the Walker down to the ground.

"Show off," Benny scoffed under his breath.

I smirked to myself, glancing up at him. No matter what was happening, Benny was able to provide a sarcastic comment for it. He grinned at me and we turned back to the commotion building up between the group.

"You let us into a graveyard!" Daryl snapped.

"He made a call," Shane shrugged.

"It was the wrong damn call!"

"Just shut up. You hear? Shut up. Shut up! Rick, this is a dead end."

The light was starting to disappear from the skies above. I dropped my bag to the floor, a loud thud sounding in the aftermath. Lori glared at me again and I simply shrugged my shoulders. She held on tightly to Carl as her eyes darted around.

"We can't be here this close to the city after dark," She said.

"FortBenning…" Shane picked up his previous idea. "Still an option."

"On what? No food, no fuel. That's 100 miles."

"125. I checked the map."

"Forget FortBenning. We need answers tonight, now."

"We'll think of something."

"Come on, let's go. Let's get out of here. Let's go. Please."

I could almost sense an oncoming argument about the slightest of different opinions. Benny shook his head and sighed, taking after Shane as he headed back to the cars. The whole time, my brother had installed his trust into Rick. Heck, I'd agreed with Rick every step of the way. Why was he turning away now? Shane had never done anything to cause harm to me, but he'd certainly never been the nicest person in the camp as far as I could tell. What gave him the right to make the calls now?

"The camera…" Rick stopped everyone. "It moved."

"You imagined it," Shane was starting to sound annoyed now.

"It moved. It moved."

"Rick, it is dead, man. It's an automated device. It's gears, okay? They're just winding down. Now come on… Man, just listen to me. Look around this place. It's dead, okay? You need to let it go, Rick."

He did exactly the opposite. Rick slammed his fists down on the shutters. Carl and Sophia cringed away at the banging, and I even felt myself jump at the sudden noise in the quiet. I turned away, facing the bodies. Had they all died because they'd been locked out of the C.D.C? Was that what had happened? It seemed like the most reasonable answer for the heap of decay that I was witnessing.

"I know you're in there!" Rick carried on. "I know you can hear me!"

"Everybody get back to the cars now!" Shane yelled.

"Please we're desperate. Please help us. We have women, children, no food, hardly any gas left."

"Rick, there's nobody there."

"We have nowhere else to go. Keep your eyes open. If you don't let us in, you're killing us! Please!"

"Come on, buddy, let's go. Let's go."

"Please help us. You're killing us! You're killing us! You're killing us!"

The man yelled more and more as Shane and Lori tried to drag him away. I felt sorry for him. It seemed like he was having a mental breakdown right now. Benny nodded at me, almost instructing me to follow him away from the building.

Suddenly, we were drowned in light. The door to the C.D.C had opened. We all stopped in our tracks and turned to stare as the remaining survivors were basked in the white light. This would be the first time that we had come across anyone alive, except the rest of our group. We would see somebody else, another survivor, someone from the outside. I longed to see if they were the same as us. I longed to know if they were willing to take us on, to save us.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

There was no hesitation when it came to stepping inside the C.D.C. After we had gotten over the shock of the doors actually opening, we had all rushed inside. It surprised me to see that Benny had his gun pulled, but I said nothing. Maybe he was right to be wary. I considered taking out my own gun, but decided against it. There would be nothing worse than to scare anyone.

"Daryl, you cover the back," Shane nodded at him.

Daryl lingered behind me, scoping the room with his crossbow as everyone called out into the emptiness of the entrance. I glanced over my shoulder at Daryl. He caught my eye, but looked away quickly. He could rest assured that I wouldn't be talking to him, not at least I supposedly got my act together, seeing as I was a sorry case.

"Anybody infected?"

My eyes shot up and I looked at the man before us. He stood with his own gun poised and aimed. He was an older man, and he looked extremely tired and definitely not at all welcome towards us.

"One of our group was," Rick noted. "He didn't make it."

"Why are you here? What do you want?" The man demanded.

"A chance."

"That's asking an awful lot these days."

"I know."

"You all submit to a blood test… That's the price of admission."

"We can do that."

To be frank, the idea didn't seem appealing at all, but it was only fair. If this man was willing to risk things for us, this was the least that we could do. Benny lowered his crossbow and I lowered my hand, from where it had been cautiously hovering at the waistband of my jeans.

"You got stuff to bring in, you do it now," He explained. "Once this door closes, it stays closed."

I nodded at Benny and headed out to grab our bags which we had earlier dropped. I slung mine over my shoulder and rested Benny's in the crook of my arms, dragging the heavy load back inside. Benny took his bag from me. Once we were all inside, we heard a beep.

"Vi, seal the main entrance. Kill the power up here."

A clanging sounded as the metal shutters rattled shut behind us. I couldn't help but feel slightly trapped. He had basically locked us all up in here for good.

He ushered us all into an elevator. It was crammed, and I ended up being pressed in between Benny and Lori as we listened to the humming of the elevator.

"Rick Grimes," Rick introduced himself, breaking the silence.

"Dr. Edwin Jenner," The stranger replied.

I smiled to myself. Jenner? How ironic. Clearly nobody else seemed to get the joke, so I quickly pushed the smile from my face.

"Doctor always go around packing heat like that?" The conversation picked up again.

"There were plenty left lying around. I familiarised myself."

"But you look harmless enough."

"Except you. I'll have to keep my eye on you."

Everyone chuckled at Carl's little spite. We filed out of the elevator and I hung behind, not wanting to get caught up in the rush of everyone trying to get through. My bag swung freely and I felt myself cooling down due to the air conditioner. Thank God. All of us were hot and sweaty, and this felt like heaven right now.

"Are we underground?" Carol asked from up ahead.

"Are you claustrophobic?" Jenner questioned.

"A little."

"Try not to think about it."

I noticed how deserted it was around here. It was practically a dead house. The place was lifeless. Jenner must have been an awfully lonely man if he had been the only one residing here since this had all gone down. It seemed impossible to think that someone could remain even reasonably sane when left alone for that long.

"Vi, bring up the lights in the big room."

We were stationed in a huge room full of technology, which I guessed was what had been tracking all of the research about the disease and also the cause and cure. Everyone looked around in awe; their heads tilting back to get the full view.

"Welcome to Zone 5," Jenner smiled.

"Where is everybody? The other doctors, the staff?"

"I'm it. It's just me here."

"What about the other person you were speaking with? Vi?"

"Vi, say hello to our guests."

"Hello, guests. Welcome."

The computerised voice surprised me. They only kept one person here, but they could keep highly powered technology running? Well, that seemed to make no sense at all. I raised my eyebrows at Benny as I met his eye across the room. I knew that he wanted to say something, but he was holding back. It probably wasn't the right time.

"I'm all that's left," Jenner said. "I'm sorry."

The syringe sunk into my arm and the blood was parted from my system. I'd never been fond of such things, but I'd never shied away. Pa would have called me a wimp if I'd refused to let the doctor give me an injection. He wasn't always an affectionate man. Instead of kissing the sore better, he would sit and sigh if we cried or we complained and would threaten to ground us if we didn't man up. He'd always treated Benny and I like that. And he toughened us up in all the right ways, because it worked.

Susie had never received the same kind of treatment. She was a hell of a lot younger, so the way they raised her was different. It wasn't acceptable to punish a kid for crying or being a pansy. But, I couldn't think of Susie or my parents right now.

I felt the warm tears running down my cheeks, and quickly lifted my hand to wipe away the salt water. Jenner glanced up at me with raised eyebrows.

"It's not a sin to cry, you know," He said quietly; I was grateful that he didn't draw attention to me in my vulnerable moment.

"I know that," I sighed. "But I swore to myself that I wouldn't be weak about all of this. If they see me crying now, they'll never look at me the same again."

"Everyone breaks down at some point, it's inevitable."

"Yeah, well, now isn't the time to break down. I'll have to wait that one out, I guess."

Later on that evening, Jenner had kindly provided us with a meal. We all sat around a table, drinking wine and eating our food. None of us had had a proper meal in a long time, or alcohol, and it seemed to be getting to everyone's head.

Benny had already been revealed to be a bit tipsy, when he'd stood up and tripped over the leg of the table and fallen to the ground. He'd laughed upon resurfacing and I'd just shook my head and smiled fondly. It was nice to see him let loose.

"You know, in Italy, children have a little bit of wine with dinner," Dale explained to Lori as she hesitated to give Carl a sip of the red wine that she was drinking. "And in France."

"Well, when Carl is in Italy or France, he can have some then," She rolled her eyes.

"What's it gonna hurt? Come on."

Lori sighed in defeat and poured a bit of her wine into Carl's glass. We all watched as he took a sip. His face scrunched up and he let out a sound of disapproval, making us all laugh. This was certainly the most light hearted that we had been since the beginning of this whole fiasco, and I actually seemed to be enjoying myself.

I met Daryl's eyes across the table. He was drinking silently to himself. I offered him a small smile and he returned it ever so slightly. Perhaps it was the effects of the alcohol. I usually didn't let a grudge go, and it seemed that he didn't either. We had something in common, at least.

"It seems to me that we haven't thanked our host properly," Rick announced.

The table roared with their thanks and Jenner smiled, lifting his glass to us as he sat cooped up in a corner, away from the festivities. The next conversation that we settled on was the C.D.C and its work – discovering what had happened to the others.

"Where are they?" Shane demanded, seeming to be in a classic bad mood.

"We're celebrating, Shane," Rick frowned. "Don't need to do this now."

"Whoa, wait a second. This is why we're here, right? This was your move… Supposed to find all the answers. Instead we… We found him. Found one man. Why?"

"Well, when things got bad, a lot of people just left," Jenner explained. "Went off to be with their families. And when things got worse, when the military cordon got overrun, the rest bolted."

"Every last one?"

"No, many couldn't face walking out the door. They… opted out. There was a rash of suicides. That was a bad time."

"You didn't leave. Why?"

"I just kept working. Hoping to do some good."

The mood had dampened, thanks to Shane's brashness, but nobody let it get to them. There was no point. We were here now, and we couldn't turn back, no matter how many mistakes we made along the way.

We walked along a corridor of rooms with our bags. Jenner pointed out things as he went, and everyone's smiles seemed to grow bigger as the time went on.

"Most of the facility is powered down including housing, so you'll have to make do here. The couches are comfortable, but there are cots in storage if you like. There's a rec room down the hall that you kids might enjoy. Just don't plug in the video games, okay? Or anything that draws power. The same supplies… If you shower, go easy on the hot water."

"Hot water?" Glenn's mouth dropped open.

"That's what the man said!" T-Dogg clapped him on the back and they both started to laugh.

I smiled as everyone went off. I decided to just push open the door to the nearest room and occupy it, seeing as there were enough rooms for everyone to separate. It was pretty empty and dismal, but I was extremely grateful for the upgrade accommodation. This would be an experience, compared to how we'd previously been leading our lives.

I dumped my bag down onto the sofa and walked into the small shower room. This felt like a great dream, and I was worried that I would suddenly wake up and none of this would have happened. I turned the knob of the shower and grinned as I felt the hot jets of water pelting against my hands. This really was heaven.

Without giving it much thought, I hurriedly stripped my clothes off and jumped into the hot shower, relishing in the warmth of the water. It felt amazing to feel clean again. I ran my hands through my hair, allowing the water to drip down my face. Nothing seemed to matter anymore, not now that I was standing here.

Eventually, I hopped out of the shower and quickly dried myself off before heading into the room. I slipped on a new top and jeans. My earlier outfit had been worn for the majority of the day, and it was sure to stink by now.

Seeing as I had nothing better to do, I went and filled up the sink in the bathroom and dumped my dirty clothes in the water, scrubbing at the fabric to freshen it up. As I did this, I reached behind to check that I'd put my pistol back into the waistband of my new jeans. I hadn't.

I quickly left the bathroom in search of my pistol. It was something that I needed on me at all times. Even if I couldn't use it, I liked it just to feel save.

"Looking for this?" A voice surprised me.

Daryl was leaning against the doorframe of the room, holding the gun between his fingers. A bottle of wine was held between the fingers of the other hand, his arm hanging limply by his side.

"Yes," I crossed the room quickly and he handed it to me. "Thank you."

"You look like you're having a fun night in," Daryl smirked.

"Well, it's always best to get things done and out of the way, isn't it? I'd hate to be rushing around later. I mean, we won't be staying here forever, will we?"

"Guess not."

"No. No, I guess not. What are you doing here anyway?"

I tucked my gun into my jeans and moved further into the room, going to take a seat on the couch. Daryl lifted up the bottle and took a hefty swig, following after me and taking a seat on the opposite end of the sofa. He didn't seem to be drunk, but he was definitely under the influence of alcohol at this moment. He had no other reason to come and talk to me.

"I just came to check up on you too," Daryl shrugged. "It's a good thing I did too, looks like you've lost your head a bit."

"That's what stress does to you, I suppose," I rolled my eyes.

"I know that you're not my biggest fan and all, but I'm real sorry about what happened on the road. I didn't mean to call you a sorry case. It was a slip of the tongue."

"Wow, the infamous Daryl Dixon is apologising to me? Heck, don't worry about that. You were right. I am a sorry case. I'm not good for nothing round here."

"Hey now, that's not true."

I laughed and ran a hand through my damp hair. He was only saying it to try and be nice to me. If he had to name any redeeming qualities, he wouldn't be able to.

"Tell you what," Daryl set the bottle down on the table in front of us. "If you're free right now, I'll teach you how to shoot."

"What?" I looked at him in surprise. "Right now? Here?"

"Yep. Unless you've got a problem with that."

Daryl waited for my response and I just shook my head. He grinned and held his hand out for my gun. I happily placed it in his palm. He spent the rest of the night teaching me how it worked and how to aim. It may have been a hallucination, but I even heard him laugh and saw him smile more than a few times.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it. **

I trudged towards the main group the next morning, groaning as I massaged my head. Compared to the others, I was most certainly not drunk. But I had taken advantage of the wine, and had a bit more to drink than I probably should have. Why did it matter anyway? I was twenty three. I could be dead tomorrow. Wasn't that reason enough to drink as much as I wanted to?

Benny was sat with a plate of powdered eggs in front of him, his head resting on the table. I wasn't sure if he was asleep or not, so I slid into the seat beside him and smacked him on the upside of the head. He groaned and lifted his head from the table, rubbing his eyes and glaring at me.

"Looks like somebody had a good night," I grinned.

"Very funny," He rolled his eyes. "I didn't see you around last night, Annie. What were you up to? Getting drunk all on your lonesome?"

"Unlike some people, I didn't get drunk. I stayed in my room. It was nice to catch up on some rest. You could have used some too, I reckon."

Benny shook his head and I laughed. T-Dogg approached us, offering me a plate of powdered eggs. I thanked him, stuffing the food down. It tasted amazing compared to what we had been eating for the past few weeks. This really was luxurious.

"Protein helps the hangover," T-Dogg informed me.

"Hangover?" I smiled, ducking my head. "I haven't got a hangover."

"I'm surprised. I heard you and Dixon going at it all night."

I gaped at T-Dogg and Benny choked on the food that he had been about to swallow. I thumped him awkwardly on the back as T-Dogg smiled innocently at me.

"You and Dixon?" Benny groaned, slapping a hand to his forehead.

"He doesn't mean it like that," I grumbled. "We weren't doing anything, Benny, I swear. Not even drinking! He was just teaching me how to shoot."

"And you couldn't have left that until another day? Or asked someone else, maybe?"

"You wouldn't have bothered, Ben. You still treat me like I'm a little kid, so I knew that it was no use asking you. Just let me be my own person right now, alright? I don't need you hanging around all the time."

My brother sighed, but I ignored the exasperated sound. He was irritating me more and more as the days went on. Before all of this, I'd been the mature one. Now he seemed to think that he could dictate everything I thought and did without me getting annoyed about it. Well, he was on the wrong page.

"Morning," Jenner entered the room and we all looked up from our eggs.

"Hey, dog," Shane tilted his head.

"Doctor, I don't mean to slam you with questions first thing…"

"But you will anyway."

"We didn't come here for the eggs."

We ended up back in the control room, watching the big screen present us a playback of test subject 'TS-19'.

"Is that a brain?" Carl asked as we all examined what was on the screen.

"An extraordinary one," Jenner replied. "Not that it matters in the end. Take us in for E.I.V."

The camera moved and we were shown the inside of the brain. I didn't understand it as much as I would have liked to, but I still listened to Jenner talk about the lights which showed the person's life. The experiences, memories… everything.

"Those are synapses, electrical impulses in the brain that carry all the messages. They determine everything a person says does or thinks from the moment of birth to the moment of death."

"Death? That's what this is, a vigil?"

"Yes. Or rather the playback of the vigil."

"This person died? Who?"

"Test subject 19. Someone who was bitten and infected… And volunteered to have us record the process. Vi, scan forward to the first event."

I was glad that Rick was there to ask the questions as we watched the process happening on the screen, otherwise I would have never understood what was happening. It was all so surreal.

"What is that?"

"It invades the brain like meningitis. The adrenal glands haemorrhage, the brain goes into shutdown, then the major organs. Then death. Everything you ever were or ever will be… Gone."

Andrea was turning away from the screen, tears pricking her eyes. It must have been hard for her, knowing that this is what happened to Amy. We'd all watched her go. It was worse to know what was happening on the inside, though.

I glanced over my shoulder and saw Daryl squinting at the screen. It may have been interest, or he may have just been trying to work out every little detail like me.

"The resurrection times vary wildly," Jenner continued. "We had reports of it happening is as little as three minutes. The longest we heard of was eight hours. In the case of this patient, it was two hours, one minute… seven seconds."

"It restarts the brain?"

"No, just the brain stem. Basically, it gets them up and moving."

"But they're not alive?"

"You tell me. It's nothing like before."

"Most of the brain is dark."

"Dark, lifeless, dead. The frontal lobe, the neocortex, the human part… That doesn't come back. The you part. Just a shell driven by mindless instinct."

Suddenly, something flashed across the screen and the brain was cut in half. Without listening to the answer, I already knew what it was. The only way they could have destroyed the monster was to stop the brain, whether that meant a shot, a knife, whatever. There was no way you could keep something like that alive.

"Dr. Jenner, I know this has been taxing for you and I hate to ask one more question, but…" Dale picked up where the conversation finished. "That clock… It's counting down. What happens at zero?"

"The basement generators," Jenner explained. "They run out of fuel."

"And then?"

"Vi, what happens when the power runs out?"

"When the power runs out, facility-wide decontamination will occur."

There was a pause. Daryl didn't acknowledge much as he took a swig from the wine bottle that he seemed to have acquired on the way down here from breakfast. Glenn looked around nervously. The word even scared me a little bit.

"Decontamination… What does that mean?" Glenn frowned.

Jenner wandered off. There was no way that that could possibly mean anything good. Shane, Rick, Glenn, T-Dogg and Benny decided to go down to the basement to check out the generators and see if they could do anything about it. Benny said he could help as he was good when it came to mechanics, but I had no idea how he could stop something that was set in stone.

We waited around for the boys to come back. I picked at the hem of my t-shirt as we sat in an awkward silence. My eyes flickered to the countdown on the clock every few seconds, counting along in my head.

Suddenly, the lights flickered off. Panic surrounded me and the chaos that ensued was almost tangible.

"Why is the air off? And the lights in our room?"

"What's going on?"

"Why is everything turned off?"

"Zone 5 is shutting itself down."

Jenner didn't have a chance to explain to us what he meant. The power was whirring down and there was nothing that any of us could do. I rested my head in my hands. How could this be happening? Just when we thought we'd found somewhere safe to be, everything had suddenly taken a turn for the worst.

He tried to explain about there being no power grid, but nobody wanted to listen. Everyone was back again and Rick took charge once more.

"Lori, grab our things. Everybody, get your stuff. We're getting out of here now!"

I tugged Benny along behind me as the group made their way towards the stairs that lead us up to the corridor of rooms we had been occupying the previous night. An alarm started to blare and once more everybody was frozen in their tracks.

We were pushed into getting our things, but I couldn't move. We had been locked in. What was the point of gathering up our things if there was no escape? It would be a waste of energy.

"We've hit the 30-minute window," Jenner sat in front of a webcam. "I am recording."

"Hey, Jenner, open that door now."

"There's no point. Everything topside is locked down. The emergency exits are sealed."

"Well, open the damn things."

"That's not something I control. The computers do. I told you once that front door closed, it wouldn't open again. You heard me say that. It's better this way."

"What is? What happens in 28 minutes?"

"Come on!" Daryl yelled, slamming his fist against a desk.

"You know what this place is?! We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox! Ebola strains that could wipe out half the country! Stuff you don't want getting out! Ever! In the event of a catastrophic power failure… in a terrorist attack, for example… H.I.T.s are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."

"H.I.T.s?"

"Vi, define."

"H.I.T.s… high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosives consists of a two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear. The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between 5,000 and 6,000 degrees and is used when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."

"It sets the air on fire. No pain. An end to sorrow, grief… Regret. Everything."

I could hear people around me crying. I was too shocked and confused to cry, so I just stood there, my mouth open. How was I supposed to react to the situation at hand? Benny glanced over at me and I just shook my head. Was this it? Was this my time to die? With everything that had happened in the past few weeks, I hadn't expected this to be the way to go. Yes, I'd accepted that there was a possibility that I could have entered this world as a Walker or that I could have just been outright killed by one. In fact, anything but this… Not being blown to pieces.

"Open the damn door!"

Shane and Daryl were pounding at the door. It was a stupid effort. There was no way that they could get through those things, even when they took axes to the metal. It just wasn't possible. I sunk to the floor, wrapping my arms around my legs and leaning my head back against a desk. I wasn't ready to die yet.

"Can't make a dent," Jenner shook his head from where he calmly sat. "Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher."

"Well, your head ain't!" Daryl yelled, running forwards.

"Whoa! Whoa! Daryl! Daryl!"

"Just back up! Back up!"

Daryl had tackled down Jenner with no mercy. Shane and Rick pulled him away, trying to stop him from sending punches in the doctor's direction.

"You do want this," Jenner pushed himself up. "Last night you said you knew it was just a matter of time before everybody you loved was dead."

"What?"

Everyone turned to stare at Rick in a new light. Benny and Daryl took up swinging axes at the metal doors again. Andrea sat across from me. She didn't look like she wanted to be here, but in some sense… she did. She just wanted to feel something again. She didn't want to go on without Amy. It was understandable.

"I had to keep hope alive, didn't I?" Rick sighed.

"There is no hope," Jenner said. "There never was."

"There's always hope. Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody somewhere…"

"What part of "everything is gone" do you not understand?" Andrea snapped.

"Listen to your friend. She gets it. This is what takes us down. This is our extinction event."

Carol sobbed, holding Sophia close to her body. Jenner tried to make us see his idea in a different way, to make us think that this was the right way to go. But in what sense of the word would this be right? Nobody here deserved to burn to death.

As Rick continued to talk to Jenner and try to make him see sense, I crawled across the room over to Benny, Shane and Daryl. Shane didn't take much notice. Daryl paused to look down at me in my childish like state.

"You think we're gonna die in here?" I asked quietly as he went to swing his axe once more, despite no dents being formed in the metal yet.

"Not if I have anything to do with it," He grunted, taking the hit.

Benny copied his actions. I stayed closer to them, preferring the sounds of their attempts to the sounds of the sobs and the hopelessness. If Daryl thought that we could get through, I believed him. He wasn't one to lie about anything.

The time was ticking. It all happened so fast, but the shutters suddenly whirred to life and were swung open. I reeled back in surprise. Benny quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet.

"Come on! Let's go!"

"Come on, let's go!"

"Move it! Move it!"

"There's your chance," Jenner stated. "Take it."

We had four minutes left. Benny and I waited at the doors for everyone else to gather around. Jacqui approached us, but she had a sad expression on her face.

"No, no, I'm staying," She said to T-Dogg, holding his face in her hands.

"But that's insane!" T-Dogg gaped.

"No, it's completely sane. For the first time in a long time. I'm not ending up like Jim and Amy. There's no time to argue and no point, not if you want to get out. Just get out. Get out."

"Dog," Shane sighed. "Come on, man."

I just about had enough time to acknowledge that Andrea was going to stay too. Jacqui was one loss, but I couldn't deal with two. Dale went back for her, but nobody else had time to react. Benny was dragging me down the corridor. My feet couldn't carry me fast enough, but I managed to keep the pace beside him as we ran.

We reached the main foyer, and realised that the shutters were still locked in here due to the computers. The guns and weapons came out and the men were doing everything to take down the windows as an escape, but they wouldn't budge.

Groans spread quickly as even bullets wouldn't take down the glass.

"Rick, I have something that might help," Carol spoke up.

"Carol, I don't think a nail file's gonna do it," Shane grumbled to himself.

"Your first morning at camp, when I washed your uniform, I found this in your pocket."

Carol reached into her pocket and handed over a grenade to Rick. He rolled it around in his hands a few times. Surely, this had to work. We all ran and took cover to avoid being blasted down by the explosion. And it did explode – flames filled the air and the glass shattered to pieces.

Everybody sprinted towards the vehicles, jumping in to whichever was nearest. I scrambled up into the RV with Benny and Glenn. As we sat by the window, we sat Dale and Andrea running towards us. They had done it. They had managed to get out with time to spare. I could hear car horns honking from behind. There wasn't much time left.

"Dale, get down!" I heard yelling. "Down! Get back! Everybody down! Down! Get down!"

They took cover. We took cover. The C.D.C exploded. So did Jacqui and Jenner. But, I still sat up and turned to hug my brother in joy. We had survived it.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

Once again, we were back on the road, trailing each other. Benny and I sat up in the RV, a chessboard spread out between us. My brother seemed to be putting on a good façade of enjoying himself and getting into the game, but I knew it wasn't all what it seemed. I simply sat there and stared out of the window behind him, watching the deserted roads fly past.

"Your move," Benny interrupted my thoughts.

"I don't know," I sighed. "I don't even know how to play chess."

"Don't you remember when Dad taught us how to play? You were nine, and I was sixteen. We stayed a summer out in the lake house and we were bored as hell, so he taught us how to play chess."

"Well, I can't remember. It's a terrible game anyway."

Benny laughed and shrugged, moving my own piece for me. I pushed myself up from the table and headed towards the front of the RV, looking out of the window as Glenn and Dale were up front. Dale turned and smiled at me.

"Do you know where we're headed yet?" I asked.

"Not quite," Dale replied. "I'm sure we'll know the right place when the time comes. Why don't you give me a hand and just clean up a little bit in here, Annie? I know it's not the most fun thing to do, but it'll need it at some point."

I rolled my eyes jokingly at the older man before heading away to tidy up the compact space. His bookshelf was practically destroyed, things tipped over everywhere. I straightened the books and all the bits and pieces that he had cluttered; trying to make everything look like it had done before this hell of a rocky journey.

Andrea and Shane were now occupying the table. I could hear the constant clicking of Andrea's gone, and it annoyed me to no end. Didn't that girl know when to stop? She'd been at it since the early hours of the morning. As always, my hand flitted to my own gun, just to check that it was still there. I was trying to restrain from using it, but it calmed me to know that I still had access to it if I needed.

"Oh jeez," Dale said from up ahead.

I glanced to the front of the road and saw that it was all blocked up with vehicles. This must have been a popular escape route right back when this all started. Daryl rode alongside the RV on his motorcycle. Benny snorted to himself and I rolled my eyes at him. He wouldn't be laughing if he could ride a motorcycle.

"Uh, maybe we should just go back," Glenn frowned. "There's an interstate bypass…"

"We can't spare the fuel," Dale sighed. "Jeez."

We all froze as we heard the engine clanking and sputtering. Oh, great.

The next thing I knew, we were all standing herded around the RV and glaring at the vehicle which had broken down again. I was definitely experiencing déjà vu.

"I said it. Didn't I say it?" Dale tutted. "A thousand times. Dead in the water."

"Problem, Dale?"

"Just a small matter of being stuck in the middle of nowhere with no hope of…"

"Okay, that was dumb. If you can't find a radiator hose here…"

Despite Lori protesting that it was disrespectful, the majority of us agreed on herding up as much as we could from the deserted cars. I cringed as I stepped around the bodies, but I knew I had to do it. There was no other chance of survival. We had lost everything back in the C.D.C. All of our last hopes had been stored there.

I wrenched open the stiff door of one car, dropping to my knees on the leather seat and reaching into the glove compartment. A half full bottle of painkillers were there. My hand curled around the yellow plastic case and I picked it up, turning it over in my hands. This sure would come in handy at some point at any rate.

Daryl was up ahead, rooting through cars. I got out of the car after looking under the backseat, shutting the door lightly behind me. It couldn't have been as quiet as I thought it had been though, as Daryl glanced up at me and raised an eyebrow.

"You trying to draw attention to us?" He called down the road to me.

He rolled his eyes. I mimicked him, moving onto the next car. A body was sat in the front seat. It wasn't moving, but I couldn't tell whether or not it would when I got closer. It looked like just a skeleton. The door was already swinging open on its latch. I slowly reached closer towards the glove compartment, my finger stretching to unlatch it without it slamming against the dashboard.

There was nothing of importance inside. In fact, there was barely anything except a box of cigarettes. I had never smoked in my life, and I didn't intend to start now, but I pulled them out anyway. Surely somebody in the camp would like a stress reliever like this. Sure, it wouldn't be any good for the health, but what did it matter anymore? None of us were exactly healthy right now.

"If you're not using them, I'll have one," Daryl made his way over to me.

"Here," I chucked the box at him. "I don't smoke."

"Maybe you should start. Looks like everyone needs to calm down a bit. I mean, have you looked at yourself in the mirror recently? You're going grey."

My hand moved quickly to my head and I moved a strand of dark hair in front of my face. Daryl just chuckled to himself as he lit a cigarette that hung from his lips.

"Very funny," I muttered. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. You've already gained a whole head of grey, old man."

"I ain't," Daryl glared at me.

I just smiled and moved on to the next car. Laughing echoed in the distance and I smiled over at Shane and Glenn as they replenished themselves in the water that they had found. Daryl followed my gaze as he stalked along behind me, making a much less thorough search of all the cars.

"Do you like that guy, then?" He asked, nodding at Shane.

"I ain't got any reason to not like him," I shrugged. "Though, I can't say he's my favourite person right now. He's too controlling."

"Yeah, like hell he is."

Another box of cigarettes was found and Daryl quickly pocketed them. I picked up a backpack from the backseats of one of the cars, zipping it open. There was nothing majorly essential in there. The only thing we could use were a few energy bars. It seemed that nobody had packed very smartly in the due course of an apocalypse.

"Get down," Daryl suddenly pushed my head down gruffly with his hand.

I didn't bother to turn around and ask, but instead just rolled under the nearest car like he instructed me to. Then, I noticed why he had done it. A herd of groaning Walkers were making their way towards us overhead. I could see everybody else in the group stationed in different areas. One by one, they dropped into their hiding positions. Up ahead, I could see T-Dogg, but not clearly enough to know what he was doing.

Daryl was pressed under the car beside me. I reached into the waistband of my jeans and slipped out my gun, positioning it in front of me and letting my finger rest lightly on the trigger. Wouldn't they be able to smell us? Wouldn't they drop to our knees and come crawling after us? I couldn't see Benny, but I hoped that he was safe.

"Stay there," Daryl whispered over to me.

I didn't have time to ask where he was going as he shifted out from underneath the car, running up ahead towards T-Dogg. The Walkers were getting closer. I lifted a hand and clapped it to my mouth, hoping to stop a whimper from escaping. There were so many of them. There wasn't a hope in the world if they were all heading so steadily in our direction.

Apart from the groans, silence had settled around all of us. There had only previously been laughter and joking and joy, but now it was all gone. In my moment of distress, my ma came to me in my mind. She would have told me to wipe away my tears and stay strong. She would have gripped my hand but then let go, as a sign of telling me to move on with the situation and sort it out in a logical and strategic way. If only she were here now to tell me what to do.

Then, the Walkers were right beside me. Their feet dragged along inches away from my body on the floor. I held my breath and closed my eyes, trying to think of something else to distract me from the awful noises. The gun was ready and waiting in my hand, if it needed to be used, but it seemed that the Walkers were simply passing by. As the last one stepped away from the car I was shielding myself under, I let out a sigh of relief. I knew that they weren't completely gone, but I could breathe a little, even if it was just for now.

Daryl came crawling along the floor towards me. I noticed that he was now covered in sticky blood, but I didn't dare to question him. He had got me out of harm's way.

"You okay?" He whispered, glancing around to check that the Walkers weren't in sight.

"Yes," I breathed. "What about T-Dogg? Is he alright?"

"He cut his arm open real bad. I'm gonna go back and help him… Don't move until I give the all clear, alright?"

I nodded, and Daryl was off again. He had briefly risked his life just to come and check on me. I couldn't help but feel overly grateful and warmed at his actions. But right now, my mind could only float to Benny and wonder if he was okay.

Without thinking, I started to shift away from underneath the car, moving forward. I stayed under the protection of the vehicles. Three cars later, I heard screams and tears. I jumped to my feet and saw Sophia running down off the edge of the highway, Walkers chasing her as she went. The rest of our survivors slipped out from where they were hiding, expressions of shock upon their faces.

Rick took off after her. Then, we were all just left, standing and staring. A little girl had just been chased away by those monsters. I spotted Benny standing nearby where she had gone running. He glanced at me and I nodded at him, but none of us made a move towards each other. Right now, we were all worried about that little girl.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it. **

Rick had found Sophia, but then he had lost her again. Him, Shane, Glenn and Daryl had taken off into the woods to check the near perimeter over again. Even in our darkest of times, the sun bore down upon us. The heat was unbearable and I could feel my clothes sticking to my sweaty body.

While we waited for the men to arrive, we got to work on moving the cars to clear a path on the road so that we could move when they came back with Sophia. If they came back with Sophia, that was. Every moment of those hours, I prayed and I kept my thoughts with her. Ma had been religious, but she'd never forced any of us to follow in her footsteps. I'd never really bothered with the whole lark, but I wish I had now. Maybe the big guy would listen to me more if I'd been more loyal.

"Don't think about it," Benny instructed as he passed by me.

"How am I supposed to just let that one slide?" I asked.

"You don't. You just don't let yourself think about it all the time. It'll eat you alive."

"Were you there? Did you see what happened?"

"Yeah, I saw alright. But I'm not thinking about it. Maybe you should take a leaf from my book; it could do you some good."

Later on, Glenn and Shane came back and informed us to just carry on working, and that the others were still looking for little Sophia. Benny offered to go out and help them, and Carol quickly agreed. It seemed like for the millionth time that week, I was seeing my brother away to his possible doom. He simply smiled at me before leaving.

"We're not going anywhere till my daughter gets back," Carol fretted.

"Hey, that goes without saying," Lori smiled. "Rick and Daryl, they're on it, okay? Just a matter of time."

As I carried on sifting through the interior of the cars, I overheard Lori and Shane arguing. It was about them and their relationship, as usual. They seemed to think that we were all oblivious to what went on between them, but we knew. I knew at least. Their voices always carried in the night.

"Why do you think I'm prepping my new ride?" I heard Shane ask. "I'm leaving."

"Leaving?" Lori replied; I turned my head in surprise too.

"Gonna quietly slip away first chance I get."

It wouldn't have been a shame if Shane upped and left, but I knew that it would break many of our camp. They relied on him. He'd been what had got them through the beginning of all this. I wanted to tell Benny, but I knew that the boy wouldn't be able to keep his big mouth shut, so I just kept it to myself. No harm would be done.

"Oh God, they're back!" Someone gasped.

"Her trail went cold," They called out as they walked back up from the woods and onto the road again. "We'll pick up again at first light."

"You can't leave my daughter out there on her own to spend the night alone in the woods."

"Out in the dark's no good. We'd just be tripping over ourselves. More people get lost."

"But she's 12. She can't be out there on her own. You didn't find anything?"

"I know this is hard, but I'm asking you not to panic. We know she was out there. And we tracked her for a while. We have to make this an organised effort. Daryl knows the woods better than anybody. I've asked him to oversee this."

Carol was close to breaking down in sobs again. I sighed and got up from the leather seat of the car that I had occupied during my search. Benny headed over to me and I held the fabric of his denim shirt between my hands.

"I don't even want to know why you've got blood on you," I mumbled.

"Walker," Benny shrugged. "We wanted to check if we weren't running on a goose chase. We gutted it and ripped open the stomach."

"Good to know that you're thinking of more creative methods to take them down."

The sobbing and the arguing continued. Dale was handing around weapons. Shane was talking about how only he, Daryl and Rick were carrying guns, in case of an emergency. I decided not to say anything about the pistol shoved down my jeans. What would he do? I couldn't bare the idea of not having a gun readily on me. It wasn't like I was even going to shoot it. It was just for keeping me sane.

"The ideas it to take the creek up about five miles, turn around and come back down the other side," Daryl explained as we grouped.

"Chances are she'll be by the creek. It's her only landmark. Stay quiet and stay sharp. Keep space between you but always stay within sight of each other."

We were all heading out into the woods to continue the search for Sophia. Dale and T-Dogg were staying behind to fix up the RV. The knife that I had been handed had been slipped into my boot. It wouldn't be the easiest place to grab it from, but I didn't feel comfortable swinging it around in the open.

"I don't want you to go," Benny told me as we all zipped up our backpacks of equipment, slinging them over our shoulders.

"I never wanted you to go all those times you ran off," I sighed. "But, like you, I'm ready and I'm able. There's no point me hanging behind when I can help."

I noticed that Benny wasn't grabbing his things. He groaned and ran a hand through his hair, looking down at the floor.

"I'm not going," He muttered. "I'm staying behind to help with the RV. Rick thinks it'll be a good idea. Also, in case T-Dogg and Dale get surrounded by another herd, I can help take them out. Neither of them are in the best shape."

"Rick's right," I agreed. "You're needed here. Don't worry about me, Ben. I won't be your baby sister forever, you know. I can handle myself."

"Alright, Annie, if you say so. Just try to stick by someone like Daryl, okay? I hardly think he'd let anything slip past him."

"Yeah, sure… You stay safe too, big brother."

He grinned and clapped me on the back before heading off to get to work. Just as we were about to head out, we were held back by Andrea and Dale arguing. That was all we seemed to be doing nowadays – arguing. I was getting sick and tired of it.

Eventually, we were moving. I trailed along at the back of the group, dragging my feet. But, I was still alert. My eyes scanned every single area in sight, hoping to spot Sophia curled up in a hiding place somewhere, too nervous to come out. Daryl was leading while I took the rear. Just like that, I'd gone against Benny's instructions.

We trudged through the mud and leaves and twigs crunched beneath us on our path. It seemed that we were making enough noise to draw attention to us, so surely Sophia would be able to hear us if we got close enough.

"Carol," Rick said as we approached a clearing where a tent was set up; everyone's voices dropped instantly. "Call out softly. If she's in there, yours is the first voice she should hear."

"Sophia, sweetie, are you in there?" Carol stepped forwards hesitantly. "Sophia, it's mummy. Sophia. We're all here, baby. It's mummy."

Daryl went to unzip the tent. Coughs and gags could be heard from within, and I instantly knew that it wasn't Sophia he had found, but rather a corpse. He gave the heads up as he emerged, and the search carried on. I thought Daryl was going to take the lead again, but he briefly lingered behind to catch up with me. I turned and shielded my eyes from the sun, looking at him curiously.

"Have you still got your gun?" He asked in a low voice, glancing suspiciously at Shane up ahead.

"Yeah, I still got it," I nodded.

"Make sure it stays that way. You might need it out here… Don't let Shane or Andrea know that you have it – they'll have it off you in seconds."

I didn't get a chance to reply as he had already taken off to lead the search again. Andrea looked over at her shoulder at me, narrowing her eyes. I attempted to give her a small smile, but that wasn't what she seemed to want. All of the women around here were crazy. Lori would throw random dirty looks from time to time, and Andrea was no better. They probably thought that I was traitor, and that I betrayed them by not doing enough. It wouldn't surprise me.

Church bells started to ring in the distance, and we took off in a run, heading in the direction of the loud peals. I was worried that Walkers would also have the same idea, so quickened my pace until I was at a reasonable distance from the rest of the group. There would be no way that Sophia wouldn't have heard them if she was out here.

We approached the church, but discovered there were no bells on display. I groaned and clapped a hand to my forehead. It seemed like we weren't getting anywhere.

After Daryl, Rick, Glenn and Shane had taken out the Walkers inside the church, I took a seat in one of the pews at the back, staring at the statue on the alter in front of me. How could the world have turned to shit, even with the messiah supposedly watching over us? Surely that couldn't be right. They wouldn't have sent down this kind of punishment for the wrong doings of one man.

"Are you religious?" Glenn asked awkwardly from behind me.

"No," I turned and smiled briefly at him. "But it's a nice place to think, don't you agree? It's peaceful. The most quiet I've had in days."

"Oh, yeah, you're right… I'll, um; I'll sit down and think too."

I laughed lightly under my breath as Glenn took a seat, bowing his head. Right now, we were all God's slaves. We were all positioned around the room with our heads tucked down, whether we were praying to him or not. All of us were bowing, and I couldn't tell whether it was for forgiveness or not.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it. **

"You're splitting us up. You sure?"

"Yeah, we'll catch up to you."

Carl went off with Shane and Rick, and the rest of us started to retrace our steps back to the highway. I ran my fingers along the leaves of bushes surrounding the path as we made our way back. My free hand was tucked into the back pocket of my jeans. Daryl clambered over a tree trunk up ahead. I followed him up, jumping off from the bark and landing neatly in a small pile of leaves.

"You think we're going to find Sophia?" I asked suddenly as we waited for the rest of the group to catch us up.

"I think there's a good chance," He replied, not entirely answering the question.

"Yes, but do you think that we're going to find her?"

"Well, if she got that far, there's a damned good chance that she got further too. I ain't going to give up this search. Imagine if it were your brother in this position. You wouldn't be willing to move on either."

"I know that. I never said that I would. In fact, I agree with you; we're gonna find Sophia, I'm sure. She can't have possibly gone too far, right?"

"Yeah, right, probably not."

"So, if it were my brother out here… If he was the one who'd been chased away by Walkers… would you help me look for him?"

Daryl glanced away from my gaze for a second, looking over my shoulder to see how far away the others were. I waited patiently, kicking my trainer in the dirt and scratching out some meaningless markings in the soil.

"Course I would," He answered. "You and your brother have done a lot for this camp. It wouldn't be fair to leave either one of you behind. I wouldn't think of it."

I smiled very slightly at the soft side of Daryl, quickly dropping the expression that I held. Carol slumped down on the tree trunk in defeat.

"So this is it?" She asked. "This is the whole plan?"

"I guess the plan is to whittle us down into smaller and smaller groups," Daryl replied. "Carrying knives and pointy sticks."

"Honey, I can't imagine what you're going through," Lori sat next to Carol. "And I would do anything to stop it. But you have to stop blaming Rick. It is in your face every time you look at him. When Sophia ran he didn't hesitate, did he? Not for a second. I don't know that any of us would have gone after her the way he did or made the hard decisions that he had to make or that anybody could have done it any differently."

"Anybody?"

"Y'all look to him and then you blame him when he's not perfect. If you think you can do this without him, go right ahead. Nobody is stopping you."

Everyone reeled back slightly from Lori's outburst, falling into an uncomfortable silence. If Carol was upset before, it was nothing compared to what she was now. Andrea stepped forward and handed Lori back the gun she had taken from her earlier on.

"We should keep moving."

At last, we were all in agreement with something. We carried on snapping twigs as we walked back to the road. I remained behind Daryl, wanting Benny to think that I'd tried to keep myself safe when I'd been gone, like he'd instructed. A noise sounded in the distance. A noise that sounded just like a gunshot. All of our heads turned as we looked away. Had it been a gunshot?

_**A/N: Sorry for the incredibly short chapter, but I did upload two today, so I hope it makes up for it:) Thank you for the faves on this story! Feel free to leave a review if you wish. Thanks for reading. **_


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

Everyone had heard the gunshot. Lori was fretting immensely. I kept glancing over my shoulder in the direction that it came from. Perhaps people still performed massacres, even in this new world that we co-existed in.

"Maybe they took down a Walker," Daryl suggested.

"Please don't patronise me," Lori glared. "You know Rick wouldn't risk a gunshot to put down one Walker, or Shane. They'd do it quietly. Shouldn't they have caught up with us by now?"

"There's nothing we can do about it, anyway. Can't run around these woods chasing echoes."

"So, what do we do?"

"Same as we've been. Beat the bush for Sophia, work our way back to the highway. I'm sure they'll hook up with us back at the RV."

Although I was slightly worried about the noises we heard, I trusted Daryl's instincts. We carried on walking round the river creek, our feet sinking into the mud as we went. It was getting too hot for my liking, and I slipped off my flannel shirt, leaving me in just my vest top. I hadn't realised that my gun would show through the thin material, though.

"What's that?" Andrea snapped from behind me.

It seemed like we were stopping for the millionth time. I turned and glared at Andrea as everyone slowed down.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied coldly.

"You have something tucked down your pants," Andrea said. "What is it, huh? You got something that you don't want to tell us about?"

She was getting awfully close to my face as she started to raise her voice. I suddenly felt a hand slip underneath my shirt. My first instinct was to say nothing, so I remained still. The gun was being removed from the waistband of my jeans.

"Turn around, then," Andrea grabbed my shoulder and pushed me.

"Hey, lay off, alright?" My own voice was steel. "Don't you dare touch me like that."

"Oh, I wouldn't worry, I'm sure you've got a gun that you can whip out and point at my temple if I step out of line, haven't you? Haven't you?"

Her voice droned on. Knowing that the gun wasn't there anymore, I turned around and lifted up the back of my vest. Andrea's voice cut to a halt and she just stared accusingly at my bare back. There was nothing tucked in there.

"Come on, Andrea," Lori sighed. "The heat's making you imagine things. Let's just keep on moving, okay? There's nothing we can do about it now."

Andrea nudged my shoulder roughly as she stormed past. I laughed falsely in disbelief. Daryl was walking beside me again. He pointed his shirt pocket, where I saw my gun slipped inside.

"I'll keep it for now," He informed me. "Don't want you getting into no trouble."

"Thanks, Daryl," I smiled warmly at me.

He shrugged and resumed the lead again. Andrea kept turning back to glare at me, but I couldn't care less right now. If she wasn't careful, she'd have to keep an eye open at night. The girl was annoying me to no end. How could she be such a fool?

We continued our long and dull walk through the woods. It seemed that we weren't getting anywhere. I felt like I'd seen everything before, and I couldn't even tell whether we were going in the right direction or not. Though, if anyone knew, Daryl would.

Andrea was slowly falling behind in her grumpy mood. I didn't have time to worry about her sulking. At least I didn't have to until she screamed bloody murder.

I turned on my heel and ran quickly to her screams. A Walker was sprawled out on top of her. Just as I reached down to yank out the knife from my boot, a young girl on a horse came charging past and bashed it in the head. The rest of the group all gaped up at the girl. I stood up and brushed off my jeans, thankful that she'd prevented me from putting a knife in that Walker's head. I still hadn't killed one to date.

"Lori?" The girl on the horse stopped in front of us. "Lori Grimes?"

"I'm Lori," She stepped forward.

"Rick sent me – you've got to come now."

"What?"

"There's been an accident – Carl's been shot. He's still alive but you've gotta come now. Rick needs you – just come!"

The others tried to stop Lori from getting on the horse, as we didn't even know the girl. I doubted that she was a danger. She was so young, plus she knew all about us. How could she have possibly been out here to do us all in? It just wouldn't make sense.

"Rick said you had others on the highway, that big traffic snarl?" She proved her point.

"Uh-huh."

"Backtrack to Fairburn road. Two miles down is our farm. You'll see the mailbox – Name's Greene."

Lori settled on getting on the horse, and they took off quickly. So, it had been a gunshot. Though, none of us had suspected Carl to be the one who was shot. First Sophia and now Carl. Apparently this world just wasn't possible for kids anymore. Especially not after what I'd witnessed today.

We reached the edge of the highway, climbing up the grass verge and onto the road again. Andrea explained what had happened to Carl and my eyes set on Benny. He was sat on top of the RV, his legs swinging off the edge. I left the others and climbed up on top of the vehicle, taking a seat beside him.

"Everything go alright?" He asked.

"Yeah, well, apart from Carl…" I shrugged. "Nothing happened. We didn't find Sophia. Shane and Rick were still looking, but I guess that'll have to get picked up at a later date. What about you? Get the RV all fixed up?"

"Get this – it wasn't even broken. Dale fixed it all up yesterday; he was just using it as an excuse to keep us all here and looking for Sophia."

"So, you've just been sat around here for hours doing nothing?"

"We looted from a few more cars, but that's it. T-Dogg is hurt real bad."

Eventually, we made the decision to move on to the Greene residence to catch up with the others. Of course, Carol quickly protested, and Daryl had to be the one to sort it out.

"I say tomorrow morning is soon enough to pull up stakes," Daryl reassured. "Give us a chance to rig a big sign, leave her some supplies. I'll hold here tonight, stay with the RV."

"If the RV is stayin', I am too," Dale intercepted.

"Thank you," Carol looked close to tears. "Thank you both."

"Annie and I will stay too, if you need," Benny offered.

Glenn and T-Dogg were going to be the ones left with the Cherokee to take up to the farm. Glenn wasn't happy about the arrangements, but he agreed that he had to get T-Dogg to safety. I was strongly considering going with them. I felt that I couldn't be left around Andrea any longer. I'd explained the situation to Benny, and he'd just told me to do what I thought was right.

"You don't have to stay you know," He said.

"I want to help, I do," I told him. "But I really don't think I can be trusted to be around Andrea right now. She really got to me out there, Benny."

"If you think it's right to leave, then go. Glenn and T-Dogg could probably use all the help that they could get. Don't hang around just cause you think we need help."

In the end, I decided to stay with Benny. I couldn't walk away from him again. Besides, I knew that I shouldn't let Andrea get to me. If I did, she would think that she had the power to control me in everything. Anyway, Benny would be enough to hold her off if she wound me up. They really did need all the help they could get here. Glenn and T-Dogg were taking the route to safety. We weren't.


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

It was almost impossible to sleep that night in the RV. Carol was sobbing from outback and I could hear Andrea clinking away the metal of her gun once again. Daryl was sprawled out in the middle of the floor, and I was curled up in the front seat in front of the steering wheel, a blanket draped around my shoulder.

Although it was hot here in Georgia, the nights were still cool. Even though I burned up during the day, goosebumps always resided on my skin in the night.

Dale was on watch and Benny had gone out earlier as he couldn't sleep. The only reason that I couldn't sleep was because Benny wasn't here. I was constantly watching out of the window to see if he would make his return any time soon. I'd vowed that if he didn't come back within ten more minutes, I would go after him.

"I'm gonna walk the road, look for the girl," Daryl suddenly stood up.

"I'm coming too," Andrea jumped to her feet too, causing me to roll my eyes.

Carol's sobs lowered ever so slightly. I stood up and stretched, dumping the thin blanket on the seat. Andrea glared warningly at me.

"Oh, don't worry," I snapped. "I'm not coming off with you and Daryl. I'm gonna go and look for Benny… He hasn't been back yet."

Daryl and Andrea headed out first, explaining what they were doing to Dale. I checked up on Carol before I followed them. Dale glanced down at me from on top of the RV.

"You haven't happened to see Benny around, have you?" I called up to him.

"Not since he left… oh, around twenty minutes ago," Dale replied. "He headed off in that direction."

He pointed up along the road, where the main streams of compact cars were. I thanked the older man on watch and followed his lead, dodging in between the cars. Since being on the highway, I hadn't travelled this far down, and I had no idea why Benny would think to go this far from the group. Sure, he could handle himself, but he wouldn't be stupid enough to lose himself right now.

There was no sign of him as I continued walking, and I was starting to panic. What happened if I found him and there were Walkers? What would I do? What if he'd gone out into the forest and I had to track him down? All of the absurd possibilities cycled round in my mind, worrying me even more.

But, another ten minutes of walking, and I had found him. He was sat on the bonnet of a car, looking out over into the trees. I quietly approached him, hopping up beside him and just remaining in silence. It took him a few minutes to glance over at me. With all the time we had spent without having anywhere to stay, his beard had grown out and his hair was shaggy. His eyes were those of a tired, defeated man. I would give anything to have my old brother back, but I knew that it wasn't possible.

"You shouldn't have bothered to come looking for me," Benny said. "You could have gotten yourself into trouble. I would have been back soon anyway."

"Yeah, well, maybe I needed the fresh air too," I sighed.

"It helps you think, you know. Clears the mind a little bit."

He seemed to be in a bit of a daze as he looked into the distance. I patted him briefly on the shoulder. There didn't seem to be a chance that I would be able to get him up and moving any time soon, so I just lapsed back into silence and sat with him.

"Where are the others?" Benny asked.

"Dale and Carol are still in the RV," I replied. "Daryl and Andrea are out in the woods looking for Sophia again."

"I bet that pisses you off to new levels."

"What does? What do you mean?"

"Andrea being with Daryl… I mean, you've grown quite attached to the old redneck in these past few days, I must say. You're like a schoolgirl with a crush on the teacher, Annie."

I laughed genuinely. I was definitely too old to be in that scenario. Besides, Daryl couldn't have been that much older than me. At least around the same age as my brother at any rate. Benny chuckled too, smiling at me.

"God, no," I shook my head. "Ben, you don't know what you're saying. Andrea can't do anything to wind me up that much."

"So, you didn't deny the little crush," Benny raised his eyebrows.

"Shut up. You know me – I don't ever crush on anyone, and I'm certainly not crushing on Daryl. I doubt he's even a friend. Just another campmate, you know?"

"Yeah, I know. I was just playing with you, Annie."

"Anyway, I don't think a relationship in the midst of an apocalypse is the wisest idea, is it? There could definitely be some complications that come along with that one."

My brother grinned and nodded his head. He had been in a relationship when all of this had started all those months ago. I'd never asked about what had happened to his fiancée, and he'd never seemed to want to talk about her. It seemed that there was no better time to question him than now.

"What happened to Olivia?" I asked.

"Annie," Benny looked up sharply, his face set like stone. "I don't want to talk about it, alright? Just let it go."

"Don't get all annoyed at me because of one simple question – besides, this is the first time I've asked you that! I kept my boundaries. I ain't asked about anything before you found me up until now, so you don't have to right to get wound up."

"I just don't want to talk about it. Don't argue with me right now, that's the last thing I need."

"No, look, you can't just keep all these things from me. I've respected everything you've done, so don't turn on me now. If I want to have an argument, we'll have an argument. Maybe that's the only way we can get anything out of our system."

Benny jumped up from the bonnet and I did too, squaring up to him. My brother didn't scare me, and I knew that it wouldn't take long for him to break. His cheeks were flushing at his sudden outburst and I could even feel myself heating up.

"What do you want to hear from me?" He snapped. "That she threw the ring back in my face all but a week before this happened? I didn't kill her off, if that's what you're accusing me of. We were over a long time ago. You know, that's the only reason I agreed to go along with this group all the way. So that I'd have a chance of finding her again! I thought that maybe she would have chosen a similar path, that maybe I could end up back together with her. All I'm doing is looking for, Annie. I'm not trying to protect myself, or protect you… I just want her back."

He broke down before me. I stared at him as he dropped to the ground, his head hitting his hands. He'd all but admitted his motive to his dominant mannerisms. It didn't surprise me that he and Olivia had broken up. They'd never been the perfect couple, no matter how hard he'd tried to make it seem that way. He'd never stooped so low to hit his fiancée, but he'd never held back from screaming in her face. She was no better. I'd resented my brother during the time that he'd been with Olivia, as she had changed him. But knowing that he was still in love with her broke my heart. He didn't even care for me.

"Don't look at me like that," Benny laughed mockingly when he looked up, tears streaming down his cheeks. "You're no better. You're only here for protection. It's not as if you care for any of these people."

"That's the difference between us, Benny. I do. I care for these people because they've kept us safe. We owe them so much," I felt tears running down my own face.

"Well then, why don't you head on back over to your perfect family and carry on your life with them? It's not as if you even need me. You're too busy going off and chasing Dixon all the time to realise that I'm here."

"If you think that's the case, then you need to grow up. Talk to me when you've got over this… It's pathetic."

Without saying anything else, I turned on my heel and stormed away. Benny yelled something after me, but I ignored him. Even though we'd been stuck together for this whole thing, we'd never properly argued. Sure, there had been some disagreements, but we'd never resulted in screaming in each other's faces. This could be the thing that made or broke us.

As I reached the RV again, Andrea was back and outside talking to Dale. Carol was sat on the roof, watching down. Silence fell between them all as I stomped in their direction, my fists curled in anger.

"Are you alright?" Carol asked. "I heard screaming. Did something happen? Did you find Benny?"

"Yeah, I found him alright," I muttered. "He can find his own way back here when he's stopped being such a baby. If he asks for me, tell him that I said not to bother, okay? I can't deal with him right now."

I rushed past Andrea and Dale and hurled myself up the steps of the RV, slumping back down in the front seat and curling up into the blanket. Daryl appeared from behind and looked at me in slight concern. I just shook my head at him.

"Are you alright?"

"Don't bother. Just don't bother."


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

After leaving a sign for Sophia on one of the cars, we made our way up towards the Greene residence. The journey was painfully silent, and I'd highly considered asking Daryl to let me ride with him, but I knew that it would be too much a risky move with the state my brother was in.

He'd come back in the early hours of the morning, his eyes bloodshot and swollen. He had bothered to talk to me and I hadn't attempted it with him. I think that everyone in our little group had got the message. Our once strong relationship was crumbling down into destruction.

When we arrived at the farm, there was no time for introductions. I now knew that the girl on the horse was called Maggie, and the old man who worked here and the one who had saved Carl was Hershel. I hadn't had a chance to meet any of the others yet. I'd only noticed them when we'd been attending a small funeral for Otis, a man that they had lost to retrieve Carl.

The men and Andrea instantly got onto arranging a search party for Sophia now that we had a place we could use as a base. I would help out with all that they needed, but I decided to hang back from their little meetings seeing as Benny was always there.

All weapons had been stripped from everyone, except the person who was taking watch. The farm was a beautiful place, and completely isolated of Walkers, so I didn't see the need for the rifle to always be present. While Hershel and his family stayed up in their house, we all camped out near the trees in tents and the RV, taking turns to go on night watch. It was ridiculous that we still feared our safety, but a little part of me was in complete agreement with my group.

Maggie and Glenn saddled up to go on a pharmacy run and the rest of us got back to organising ourselves. I noted that Daryl was going to scan the woods again for Sophia. He was giving so much, and I couldn't help but feel guilty. Just as he was getting ready to leave, I approached him.

"You heading out there again?" I asked.

"I don't see anyone else doing it," He raised an eyebrow.

"Well, stay safe, I guess… You know, I know that I'm not the best person to tag along or anything… but if you ever need a hand, I'm here."

Daryl briefly nodded. I smiled at him and turned away as he took off. It touched my heart that he was going so much out of his way to do this for Sophia. The group wouldn't be getting anywhere without him.

A lot of commotion was building up by one of the wells, and I headed over. Dale, Shane, Andrea, Maggie, T-Dogg and Glenn were all looking down into the waters. I was thankful that Benny wasn't there, and felt that I could join them. A Walker was groaning from down below, trapped in well.

"How long you think it's been down there?"

"Long enough to grow gills," Andrea grimaced at the sight before her.

"We can't leave it in there. God knows what it's doing to the water."

A gun was cocked and there was quick denial. The Walker continued to groan. I peered over the edge into the dingy well, crinkling up my nose in disgust. It smelt even worse than the average Walker.

"If that thing hasn't contaminated the water yet, blowing its brains out will finish the job."

"She's right," Shane agreed with Andrea. "We can't risk it."

"So it has to come out alive?"

Our first idea was to send down canned ham on a rope and dangle it above him. He didn't seem interested. I laid flat on my stomach, looking into the well and instructing them on how far to go.

"It's not gonna work," I sighed.

"Maybe 'cause a canned ham don't kick and scream when you try to eat it."

"He's right. There's a reason the dead didn't come back to life and start raiding our cupboards."

I couldn't help but laugh slightly. The others looked at me weirdly. I didn't see how they couldn't find this funny. We were hunched over a well debating on the best way to remove this Walker. We could have taken it down easily, but we'd decided on a long-winded way. Personally, I thought this was the highlight of my week.

"We need live bait."

Everyone's heads slowly turned to look at Glenn. He groaned and his face dropped. Before he knew it, he was attached to a rope and was about to be lowered into the well.

"Have I mentioned that I really like your new haircut?" Glenn told Shane. "You have a nice shaped head."

"Don't worry about it, bud," Shane reassured him. "We're gonna get you out of here in one piece."

"Living piece. That living part is important… Nice and slow, please."

We had all taken hold of the rope, slowly lowering Glenn down the well. Maggie was looking at us like we were mad. I could hear the Walker snarling as Maggie called out instructions to us. The fraying rope was blistering my hands, but I didn't dare let go. I felt sorry for Glenn, but not sorry enough to take up his position.

Suddenly, the pole that the rope was looped around broke away from the ground. We all let out a shocked shriek as we jolted forward, the rope slipping from our hands. We clambered to gain the upper hand again as Glenn yelled from below.

"Get it off. Get off. Get me out! Oh my God. Oh my God. Guys, get me out! Come on, you guys."

We tugged and yanked on the rope, grunting at the difficult task. Glenn's whimpers sounded up as we strained, pulling harder. How could our 'foolproof' plan go so wrong? The rope dug into my hands, but it only made me grip on harder. My shoes sunk into the ground as I tried to keep upright.

"Pull!" Shane yelled. "Pull! Pull! Let's go, pull!"

Suddenly, we managed to get the rope and Glenn up with one last haul. Glenn was shaking like a leaf when we managed to get him stationed back on solid ground.

"Back to the drawing board."

"Says you," Glenn snorted.

We saw that he had managed to tie the noose of the rope around the Walker's head. Each of us took turns clapping him on the back before wiping down our raw hands and getting ready to go again. We took the new rope with the Walker attached to the end and started to heave again.

"Come on, guys, pull," T-Dogg instructed.

"Come on, y'all," Shane joined him.

Our hands would ache for days after this. I could feel myself slipping on the ground, but managed to keep myself up. Glenn was in front of me, tugging on the rope.

"Almost there. Come on, pull. Keep it coming. Nice and easy. Just a little more."

The Walker was making an appearance. I could hear everyone letting out little laughs of disbelief. It would have remained to be funny, if we hadn't suddenly been thrown back to the ground by the walker being split in half. I crawled quickly over to the edge of the well, looking down. The bottom half of its body had fallen into the water and the dirty blood had gone everywhere.

"We should seal off this well."

"Yeah, that might be a good idea."

"Good thing we didn't do anything stupid like shoot it," T-Dogg rolled his eyes.


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

Despite being held up earlier, Glenn and Maggie finally managed to go on their run to the store. The only good news that I had heard all day was that Carl had woken up. Actually, I'd been pretty isolated today. It seemed that I hadn't really bumped into anyone long enough to hold up a conversation. Benny had completely disappeared from the scene, but I didn't bother looking for him. That hadn't gotten me anywhere the last time I'd done that.

As the skies darkened, I crawled into my tent and set up my things. I could see lights from the house up ahead. I wondered what it would be like to sleep in a proper bed again. Comfortable, I bet. I'd heard Daryl come back earlier, but I didn't go seeking him out. He probably thought that I was acting like a little lost puppy since Benny had ditched me, even though I'd spoken harshly to him the other day.

Later on, I saw a silhouette on the material of my tent. I hadn't been doing anything except sitting and staring blankly at nothing, so I quickly unzipped my tent and scrambled outside. Daryl was standing there.

"You might want to keep your brother on a leash," He said pointedly.

"Why?" I said in confusion. "What happened?"

"He weren't here like you all seemed to think he was. He went off out into the woods. I don't know what he was doing, but he definitely wasn't searching for Sophia. He was too far off. I heard him on the way back here."

"Heard him?"

"He didn't have any weapons on him. A Walker got to him. It was on top of him by the time I reached them. He was lucky I didn't shoot him in the head instead."

I sighed. Of course I cared for the wellbeing of my brother, but I knew why he'd been out there. I didn't think much of it when I knew the reasoning behind it.

"He isn't my problem, Daryl," I shrugged. "If you wanted me to go and talk some sense into him, I'm not the person to be doing it. He won't listen. Besides, I don't want to talk to him anymore. Not right now, anyway."

Daryl furrowed his brow, but I didn't dig any deeper into the conversation. He was probably judging me for being such a bad sibling while his own brother was out there doing God knows what. I instantly felt guilty, but I couldn't take it back.

"Well, maybe he just needs some reassurance," Daryl suggested gruffly. "I ain't being funny, but he looks like he's having a mental breakdown."

"It wouldn't surprise me. Hey, what's the flower for?" I asked, nodding down at the pure white flower he was twiddling between his oily fingers.

"It's for Carol. I found it out in the woods. It's a Cherokee Rose. Means something, you know? I'm just on my way to go and give it to her now."

"Oh, right."

I just nodded briefly. He bid me goodnight before heading off to the RV. Why did that bother me so much? There was nothing harmful in him giving a flower to a woman who needed someone like him so dearly right now. I didn't want to consider it, but maybe Benny was right. Maybe, in some sick and possessive way, I was becoming obsessed with him.

After Daryl left, I found that I couldn't sleep. The light was on in the RV, and I wondered if Daryl and Carol were together. I tossed and turned in my sleeping bag. There was no other option for me but to push myself to my feet and leave the tent to get some fresh air. It was becoming suffocating in there, and I couldn't last another second in that condition.

I walked straight past the RV and in the direction of the little area we had set up as our campfire, you could say. Fold up chairs dotted the area and trees surrounded it, secluding it. It was where we cooked and ate and where we just came to relax. I slumped down on one of the chairs, bringing my knees up to my chest and hugging my arms around them. There was no way that we could continue living at the bottom of some poor man's garden. Lori insisted that we were going to end up as part of his permanent residence. I, on the other hand, thought that it was disrespectful to assume that we could just move onto his land without any given warning just because we thought it was safer. Hershel had done so much for us already, and I wasn't willing to ruin the halfway trust that we had with each other.

A torch shone in the distance and I glanced up, pulling my jumper sleeves down over my hand. My knife was back in my tent, and my gun was still tucked away in Daryl's shirt pocket. That reminded me that I had to get it back from him. But, that aside, I didn't think that a Walker would be brandishing a torch in a search for dinner.

Shane appeared in the clearing. He groaned when he saw me and I rolled my eyes. How charming of him to take such a welcoming approach towards me.

"What are you doing up at this time?" He asked. "Ain't you a little old to be having nightmares?"

"Who said anything about nightmares?" I matched his hard gaze. "I was just having trouble sleeping, that's all. I don't think you can say anything… What are you doing up? Keeping an eye on your best friend and his wife, I suppose."

His mouth was set in a hard line. I knew that I had crossed what was acceptable, and I had no idea why I was speaking out of terms to him, but anger seemed to get the better of me in that moment. Shane walked forward and knelt in front of me. I didn't trust him, especially not with his hand resting on his gun holster.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" He spat.

"I think you know damned well what I meant by that," I hissed back at him. "If you wanna go chasing after Lori, try and do it a bit more discreetly. I think Rick knows perfectly well what's happening, you know."

"I doubt it. He can't even track his own wife and kid, let alone his best friend."

Shane pushed away from me and rested his hand on his hips, looking down at the ground. I would never feel sympathetic for the man, no matter how many lines he used. He glanced up at me as I stood up, getting ready to head back to the tent.

"You better watch yourself," He warned as I walked away. "I don't want to hear that you've been talking shit behind my back, Annie. It's not the advisable thing to do."

Of course it wasn't. I just lifted my hand up in acknowledgement, refusing to turn to face him. I wasn't going to repeat what I'd said, as I wasn't that person, but I wasn't going to let him have the benefit of the doubt either.

I trudged back towards my tent, breathing the air in deeply. It was dark and the night sky was shrouding me, but I didn't feel at as much threat as I should have done. The farm was a lot safer than being out on the road, and there was less chance of being taken down by a Walker out here.

As I turned round the corner of the RV, I bumped into a figure. A slight gasp escaped my lips and I stepped back quickly and reached for my knife. Daryl was standing before me, his hands raised in surrender. I let out a sigh of relief and straightened out again.

"Thanks for giving me a warning," I breathed heavily still from the surprise.

"Well, I weren't expecting you to be wandering round so late," Daryl raised his eyebrows. "Why are you out here, huh?"

"I couldn't sleep. I'd ask you the same, but you were off hitting up Carol."

Daryl's eyes narrowed and he looked confused. I scoffed and looked to the ground. He knew exactly what I meant by that. I kicked at the dirt on the ground, feeling slightly embarrassed with myself. Why had I just come out and said that? There was no doubt that he would be annoyed with me now. I was such an idiot.

"Do you, uh, mind moving out of the way?" I muttered.

With one last look, Daryl stepped aside and I took off, not looking back. It seemed that I had managed to put my foot in my mouth with everyone that I had bumped into this evening. As I reached my tent, I dropped to my hands and knees and crawled in. When I was sat comfortably, I admired the lights of the big farmhouse where Hershel and his family resided. It would be amazing to have a real home again when all of this was over. If it ever came to be over, that was.


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

It had been a rough night's sleep with all the tossing and turning. You would have thought that I would have been more comfortable knowing that we were safe here, but my mind just wouldn't allow me to drift off. Too many thoughts were running around and I was up thinking all night.

I sat up in my sleeping back, rubbing my bloodshot eyes tiredly and smoothing down my messy hair. It must have been early as the sun was not beaming down its full rays yet. The heat wasn't at the highest peak yet either, so I guessed that it was around seven am. There was nothing for me to do but get up. Besides, I could hear voices and laughter outside my tent, so other people must have been up and moving around too.

Carol was doing the laundry as I stepped out of the tent in the sweats that I'd slept in last night and a creased t-shirt. She glanced up and smiled over at me as I made my way towards her.

"Did you have a good sleep?" She asked brightly.

"Oh, yeah," I lied, nodding my head. "It's nice to know that we're safe here, right? How about you?"

"It was one of the calmest nights I've had in a long time."

She smiled meekly at me and I returned it. Without her asking or me offering, I started to help her with the laundry. She didn't object, so I guessed that she quite appreciated the help that she was getting. I let my eyes linger on the house as I pinned up the clothes. I smiled to myself as I noted that Carol had gone about collecting my own laundry and washing it for me.

"It's a beautiful house, isn't it?" I made small talk as we worked.

"It's lovely," Carol agreed. "I always wanted to live in a big house like this when I was a little girl. Heck, I'd still love to live somewhere like that now."

"Hopefully that's not far off the agenda, then. A place like this would definitely be a big step up from where I used to live… it was a dingy, dark little place. Real nasty, if you ask me."

"Didn't you and Benny live together?"

I stiffened slightly at the mention of my brother's name but decided to shrug it off. Carol hadn't done anything, so it wasn't right to involve her in my personal life. Though, I was temped to ask her about Daryl.

"We lived with our parents for a long time," I explained. "Benny moved out when he was twenty, got settled down with his girlfriend at the time. I was thirteen at the time, so it didn't really mean much to me. I moved out when I was twenty one, literally just around the corner of my parent's home."

"I didn't realise that Benny was in a relationship."

"He… He isn't, not anymore. That ended before all of this went down."

She nodded in understanding and I cringed at myself for revealing that information. I couldn't go around spilling the beans on him just because he'd annoyed me. Where was the fairness in that? We'd always been thick as thieves, but now we seemed to be falling apart. I paused in mid laundry and reached down to massage my leg. Ever since Ma had shot me all those weeks ago, it had ached and stung like a bitch. Carol glanced over at me in concern and raised her eyebrows.

"How's your leg holding up?" She asked.

"I dunno, at least I'm not limping anymore," I shrugged, laughing to myself.

"Maybe you should get Hershel to check it out. I'm sure he would have a look if you asked him. You don't want to leave it too late, it could be infected."

I made a noise of agreement and glanced up as Lori approached. She seemed to be in a better mood than she usually was, but that didn't stop me from rolling my eyes and walking away before she could start a conversation with me. I didn't think that I was ready to listen to her at this time of the morning.

Rick, Daryl, Benny, Shane, T-Dogg and Andrea were all over by the cars, plotting their plan for the Sophia Search for the day. I headed on over to them, ignoring Benny. If I was able to lend a hand, I would most definitely be doing so. Rick smiled at me slightly in acknowledgement as I approached them, leaning against the car.

"All right, everyone's getting new search grids today," Rick explained. "If she made it as far as the farmhouse Daryl found, she might have gone further east than we've been so far."

"I'd like to help," Jimmy, Hershel's youngest daughter's boyfriend, appeared. "I know the area pretty well and stuff."

"Hershel's okay with this?"

"Yeah, yeah. He said I should ask you."

"All right then. Thanks."

Jimmy joined in with the little circle. I glanced up from studying the map that Hershel had provided us to clash eyes with Andrea. She raised an eyebrow and then looked back down again.

"Nothing about what Daryl found screams Sophia to me," Shane interrupted. "Anyone could have been holed up in that farmhouse."

"And anyone could include her, you know," I said, causing Shane to glare at me.

"Whoever slept in that cupboard was no bigger than yay-high," Daryl made a motion with his hands.

"It's a good lead. Maybe we'll pick up her trail again."

"No maybe about it. I'm gonna borrow a horse, head up to this ridge right here; take a bird's-eye view of the whole grid. If she's up there, I'll spot her."

"Good idea."

The conversation continued, including Andrea and Daryl joking around, making my mood sour even more. I must have definitely looked like I'd woken up on the wrong side of the bed by this point. Rick started splitting us up into groups. It was Andrea and T-Dogg, Rick and Shane, Jimmy and Benny and then I'd been lumbered with Daryl. He'd been no less keen than I was, but Rick said that he would need back-up in case anything happened. I could hear Daryl complaining as he went over to Rick. Then, I was left with Benny. He watched me with narrowed eyes as I remained leaning against the truck, my arms folded.

He didn't even say anything. I rolled my eyes and pushed away, walking over to the RV. Dale allowed me to have a rifle from the gun bag, seeing as Daryl still had my gun. I then went over to Daryl where he was about to clamber on top of one of Hershel's horses by the edge of the woods.

"Take it easy," I grumbled as he almost kicked me in the face.

Daryl rolled his eyes at me, getting comfortable on the horse. He reached down a hand to me and I grabbed onto him, letting him hitch me up so that I could swing my leg onto the horse's back. It was a beautiful horse. I'd always loved horses, but I'd also been slightly scared of them too. Ma used to ride horses when she was young.

"So, Hershel let you borrow him?" I ran a hand along the smooth coat of the horse.

"Nope," Daryl grinned. "But what he don't know won't hurt him. Hold on, then. I don't want your blood on my hands."

I gripped my hands onto the back of his shirt as he kicked off. The horse galloped through the trees towards our destination on top of the ridge to scope the lands. We remained in silent as we moved. My hair flew out behind me in the wind and my eyes squinted in slight fear of racing straight into a branch. Daryl seemed to be in control of the horse, though, and I trusted him with knowing what he was doing.

"Did you used to ride?" I asked over the noise of crunching leaves as Daryl slowed the horse to a trot.

"No," Daryl shook his head. "I guess I'm just a natural."

"Oh, gee, yeah. Of course you are."

He laughed and I joined it. It seemed that my awkward behaviour last night had been chucked aside, which I was grateful for. I loosened my grip on Daryl's shirt as we swayed into a walk. We were near the top of the ridge now, and I could see the colourful skyline in sight.

"Sophia!" Daryl yelled out as we got closer.

We scanned the area, but with not much luck. I swung my leg over again and climbed off the horse, planting my feet safely on the ground. Daryl remained on the animal as I walked out further into the trees, calling out softly to Sophia.

"Whoa! Easy, easy… Whoa, whoa, whoa! Son of a bitch!"

I ran back out of the trees to see the horse rearing, tossing Daryl clean off his back. The horse galloped off and Daryl was left, rolling off the edge of the cliff that we were stationed on. I screamed after him in his downfall, rushing to the edge of the ridge and dropping to my knees, looking over the edge.

There was no way to see him properly through all the shrubbery, but I could see his figure collapsed on the ground. He must have been wounded – how couldn't he have been after that fall? No matter what I did, I needed to talk to him first, and I needed to find a way where I could get close enough for him to hear me.

I couldn't have been thinking much, but I sat on the edge of the ridge, slowly lowering myself down until I found some decently sturdy footing in some of the jagged rocks. My grip slipped here and there, but I managed to get about halfway down where I could see Daryl properly. One of his arrows had pierced through his side. I grimaced.

"Daryl!" I called out to him. "Daryl! Can you hear me?"

His grumbles could be heard from down below, and I watched him shift on his side. He moaned and looked up in my direction.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" He still snapped in his time of need. "Don't move any further, you'll fall and crush me."

"I think that's the last of your worries," I rolled my eyes, despite the situation. "I'm going to come down, alright? Then I'm gonna help you get back up, okay?"

"No! No, don't do that! Go back and get Rick."

"But you're in pain, Daryl. I can't leave you here, not like this. Not on your own."

"I ain't gonna run into any problems, I'm sure. Just go. You're wasting time by hanging round here."

I hesitated, but I knew that he was right. Without too much of a struggle, I managed to haul myself back up the ridge and back onto solid ground. Now that I didn't have the help of Daryl, I had no idea where I was in the woods, so it seemed that I would have to retrace our steps and hope to find gold.

Over and over again in my mind, I repeated to myself that Daryl would be fine. A fall wouldn't end him, and I was sure of that. I walked for a while, and that was when I realised that we'd actually come a long way out. Longer than I thought we had, anyway. Without a horse, the journey seemed impossible, but I knew that I had to get back in time to the others before it was too late to save Daryl.

My feet trudged through the mud and dirt and I could feel sweat sliding off my skin, but nothing could stop me right in that moment. However, I didn't know which direction I was headed, and I couldn't even tell if I was going the right way anymore. The further I went, the more the trees seemed to enclose around me.

It was eerily silence in the woods, and I could feel panic taking over. How was I supposed to find my way back now? The skies were starting to dim and the airs were cooling, so I knew that time was ticking on. It was getting later than I wanted it to.

That was when I heard a low groaning within the trees. I squeezed my eyes shut and forced them open again, praying that I was hearing things. I crept on my tip toes in the direction of the sound, reaching down and pulling the knife out softly from my boot. A Walker was in a clearing in the trees, sinking in the wet mud. Its arms outstretched towards me as I made my approach, the knife dangling between my fingers.

Right now, I didn't have an option. I'd have to kill it. What happened if it broke free and then went and got one of my campmates? That would be all on my head. I took a deep breath and moved closer to the thing. There was no time to think – I plunged the knife into the skull of the Walker and pulled away quickly, watching it drop to the ground. That was the first one that I had ever killed. I didn't feel bad, but I didn't feel good. It was just neutral.

For what seemed like hours more of pushing my way and stumbling through the trees, I emerged on the farm. I started to run, going as fast as I could towards the rest of the group who were stationed back around the cars. They glanced up in shock when they heard my heavy breathing. Even Andrea glanced down from atop of the RV.

"What happened to you?" Rick moved to my side. "Where's Daryl?"

"He fell," I explained in a short rush. "He fell off the ridge and an arrow pierced his side. I don't know if he's still down there or not, but he's hurt. He's hurt real bad."

Rick ran a stressed hand through his hair and then moved to slam his fist down on the bonnet of the car they were working at.

"Walker. Walker!" Andrea yelled from the RV.

"Just the one?"

"I bet I can nail it from here."

Andrea raised her rifle and I turned to look in the direction she was facing. A lone Walker was dragging himself along the ground towards the farm. I sighed.

"You'd best let us handle this," Shane brushed Andrea off.

"Shane, hold up," Rick shook his head. "Hershel wants to deal with Walkers."

"What for, man? We got it covered."

"Andrea, don't," Dale warned the younger woman.

"Back off, Dale."

Rick, Shane, T-Dogg and Glenn headed off across the field towards the Walker, weapons brandished in their hands. Andrea huffed in annoyance, setting down her gun. I waited for the men to return so that we could get back out to Daryl before the sun completely set.

I glanced up and noticed that they had all paused before the Walker. Andrea took it as her chance to raise her rifle once more, aiming the weapon. I suddenly realised what was about to happen, pushing myself away from the vehicle I was leant on.

"No, Andrea, don't!" I yelled up to her.

She ignored my words and pulled the trigger. He was knocked to the ground and I screamed, clamping my hands over my ears. Andrea raised her eyebrows at me slightly, but still looked pleased at the fact that she'd taken the figure down with just one shot.

The men started to drag the figure back from the fields, running along as they held him up. Andrea gasped in sudden realisation, clambering down from the RV and running halfway to meet them alongside me. Rick and Shane were holding Daryl up. He had a string of ears hanging from his neck and blood dripping from his ribs and his head, where Andrea had just recently skimmed him with a bullet. He definitely looked worse for wear. I pressed a hand over my mouth, trying to hold back from all of my emotions suddenly spilling. It would be extremely embarrassing if I just broke down and started crying in front of everyone.

"Oh my God, is he dead?" Andrea demanded.

"Unconscious," Rick said in a monotonous voice. "You just grazed him."

"But look at him. What the hell happened?"

"I told you what happened," I intercepted. "He fell down the ridge. He landed on one of his arrows and it pierced right through him. Didn't I tell you?"

"Yeah, but he's wearing ears."

"Let's keep that to ourselves."

"Guys, isn't this Sophia's?"

We all looked up as we saw T-Dogg holding the rag doll that Morales' daughter had given to Sophia upon her departure. Even when he'd been injured, he hadn't given up tracking the little girl down. I reached out and took the doll in my hands, turning it over and examining the muddy material. She had to be close.


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

Hershel was tending to Daryl in the main bedroom. I waited anxiously outside, chewing on a hangnail as Rick was talking to him. He was conscious now, but I hadn't had the chance to go and see him and talk to him. I couldn't help but feel that it was partially my fault, as I hadn't stayed with him and I hadn't hurried. If I'd been quicker, none of this would have happened. In fact, it wasn't just partially my fault – it was completely my fault.

Maggie walked past, pausing when she saw me. I glanced up, offering her a glum smile. She took a seat beside me on the sofa, clasping her hands in her lap.

"He's gonna be okay, you know," She informed me. "You shouldn't blame yourself. My Daddy says that if anyone's to blame, it's him. He did kidnap our horse after all."

"He told us that you knew," I smiled wryly, my voice hoarse.

"Yeah, well, he ain't exactly the noblest of men, is he? I don't know why you bother chasing around after him. Is he really that good in bed?"

I snorted in amusement, shaking my head. Maggie raised my eyebrows and I gaped slightly at her. Did she really think that I was sleeping with Daryl Dixon?

"I wouldn't know," I scoffed. "We're just friends, if that. I just feel guilty cause I was out there with him, you know? I just wish I'd done more."

"You couldn't have," Maggie shrugged. "Huh. I really thought you two were going at it behind closed doors."

"What, like you and Glenn?"

Maggie's face dropped in shock. I had said that as a joke, seeing as Glenn was always moping around about her, but my suspicions had been confirmed.

"How did you know about that?" Maggie demanded.

"I didn't know until you just gave the game away," I rolled my eyes. "He's head over heels for you. I thought you already knew that. Wow… So, what's he like?"

The eldest Greene daughter was quick to huff and jump to her feet. I laughed quietly as she walked away. The door to the bedroom opened and I looked up quickly, glancing hopefully at Rick. He smiled and nodded, gesturing for me to go in. Carol had just entered the room, but I ignored her, hurrying into the bedroom.

Daryl was in the bed, a bandage wrapped tightly around my head. He turned on his side and looked at me. I couldn't read any expression, and I wondered if he was angry with me. He had a right to be.

"I'm so sorry," I gushed. "I didn't mean to leave you alone, but you… you told me to, and I didn't want to worry you, and I was going to come back and I was just -"

"Shut up," Daryl groaned.

I quickly stopped talking, looking away from him. He made no other sound or movement, so I silently moved towards the bed, taking a seat on the edge of it and moving my hand to rest it on his forehead. He didn't pull away, which surprised me. I rested my hand on his skin, feeling gloomy as I knew that this was my fault.

"I don't blame ya," Daryl said, as if he could read my mind.

"You don't?" I asked in surprise, sitting back so that I could look at him properly as he lay in the bed.

"No. You went to get help. Couldn't have done much else, could ya?"

"I wish I could have, though… You could have died out there. It's my fault that I didn't get back in time. It's my fault that you're here right now… I'm sorry that I ruined your chances of getting a better lead on Sophia, I really am."

"Nah… I found the doll, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did. Where did you find it?"

"It was washed up on the creek bed. I found it just as I was about to take down a couple of Walkers."

"Walkers?! Oh great, way to make me feel better, Daryl."

He chuckled, leaning his head back on the pillow. How could I have even left him with the possible chance of him being attacked by Walkers? God, I was stupid.

"I killed my first Walker," I said in barely a whisper.

His eyes opened with surprise and he sat up slightly in the bed to listen. I guessed that he wanted me to tell him what happened, so I carried on with my story.

"I was heading back to the farm, but I got lost without you…"

"Huh, who knew you were so dependent on me?"

"Do you want to hear me tell you about my first Walker takedown or not?"

"Fine, fine. Go on then. I ain't got all day."

"So, anyway… I got real lost in the middle of the woods and the trees were real compact around this one area… I could hear this thing moaning, so I went to check it out. It was stuck in the mud, so I thought it was the perfect opportunity to take it down in case of it escaping later or whatever. I knifed it straight in the head."

Daryl grinned, closing his eyes again. I smiled too, folding my hands in my lap. Even if it wasn't the nicest thing, I was kind of proud. I'd served somebody right by taking that thing down, and that had to count for something.

"Well, I'm gonna go and grab some dinner," I stood up from the bed. "Just give a shout if you need anything, okay? I'll bring you some food in a bit."

"Yeah, thanks, Annie," Daryl nodded.

I leant over the bed, pushing his hair back from his head and looking into his eyes. It was very brief before I rushed to pull away, a blush forming on my cheeks. Daryl just closed his eyes and smirked as I left the room, rolling my eyes.

As I shut the door behind me, I noticed Carol heading in my direction. She had a plate of food. So, it looked like someone had beaten me to bringing Daryl dinner. Oh, how was I supposed to blame such an innocent woman? She was only trying to thank him for searching for Sophia. If anything happened, it would be because of Daryl.

I smiled as I passed her, heading to the dining room. It was awfully awkward and quiet in there. No wonder Carol had upped and left. I nodded in acknowledgement towards everyone, slipping into the seat that I supposed Carol had once occupied. There was a rustling coming from the second table, and everyone glanced up to notice Maggie and Glenn exchanging a note. I scoffed and tucked into my food, ignoring them. Hershel didn't seem too keen on looking away, though.

Rick smiled at me from across the table and I nodded. It was a sign of saying that Daryl was alright. That I was alright. A little further down the table, Benny was hunched grumpily over his food. If he didn't start to perk up his act a little bit, people were going to start asking questions. I finished off my food, and wiped my hands on the jeans that I had changed into before dinner.

Benny glanced up from his plate of food, meeting my eye.

"I need to talk to you," He mouthed.

I nodded.


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

Benny waited until the next morning to approach me to talk. He stood in front of me for the first few minutes, his hands shoved in his pockets and his head faced firmly towards the ground. I was about to turn away.

"I'm sorry for all this," He apologised, looking me in the eye. "I didn't mean for it all to get so out of hand. It was a stupid argument, and it should never have happened."

"You're right," I nodded. "It was stupid. It was stupid of you to think that you could yell at me in that way because you got into some strop over a woman who left you. Don't you get it, Benny? She's not coming back. I doubt she ever will."

My brother glared at me slightly before sighing and nodded. All I wanted was for him to understand. He was seven years older than me, and he still couldn't seem to process his mind into grasping reality. I'd had a struggle at first, but I was here now. The last thing that Benny wanted to do was to have it all and then for it to slip away from him. We couldn't allow that to happen, not now.

"So, are we alright?" Benny motioned between us.

"Yeah, we're alright," I grinned.

"Thank the heavens. I mean, I knew you could hold a grudge, but I didn't expect for me to be the one to break it."

He nudged my hip jokingly and I shoved him back. It felt good to have my brother on my side again, and not resenting me. I felt that little bit safer knowing that he was there to trust and rely on.

Glenn was making his rounds with a basket of fruit. He looked awfully shifty as he walked around, his eyes darting between everyone as we continued working over the maps, plotting routes. I picked up an apple from the basket, turning it in my hands and inspecting it before taking a bite.

"You kill someone?" I asked.

"What?" Glenn looked up in surprise. "No… No, I didn't… I'm not… What are you talking about?"

"You're looking bloody suspicious about something, Glenn. Cat got your tongue?"

I smirked at Glenn as he rolled his eyes at me and went on his way. As he walked away, I glanced over my shoulder to see Andrea leaving Daryl's tent. What was it with him and the women around here? Was I missing something?

Today, Shane and Rick would be taking a bunch of us out gun training. I didn't want to, and I felt like I didn't really need to, but Rick had insisted that I needed to be a good aim if I wanted to get anywhere living this life. Beth and Patricia were approaching us from the house. Rick sighed and packed up his things.

"We'd like to join you for gun training today," They announced.

"Hershel's been very clear," Rick replied. "I can't involve any of you in what we do without his okay."

"He doesn't like it, but he consented."

"Otis was the only one who knew guns. Now that he's gone, we gotta learn to protect ourselves."

Rick looked slightly torn, but nodded in agreement. I didn't see the problem in Beth and Patricia knowing how to shoot a gun. Heck, there wasn't a problem at all. They needed to be able to shoot, even just a little bit, to survive. Benny wasn't going to the gun training, and I felt slightly peeved that I had to be dragged along. Then again, neither Rick nor Shane had seen me shoot before, so no wonder they had their doubts. The last time I'd considered shooting was that night in the C.D.C and that was only for tipsy purposes. I wasn't going to actually go out and load my gun.

As I was packing up my backpack later on, I could hear Lori, Rick, Shane and Dale all arguing over Carl. Even here, we couldn't break away from the arguing streak. I decided to head on over to Daryl's tent to check up on him and see if he needed anything.

He was sleeping when I slipped inside the tent. I had nothing better to do while the others were screaming at each other, so I sat down cross legged beside his unconscious figure and watched his steady breathing. I reached out to brush his hair to one side. Suddenly, his hand clamped around my wrist and I let out a squeak of surprise, reeling back slightly.

"You need to stop creeping around," Daryl grumbled, rolling onto his back. "What can a guy do to get five minutes of peace round here? What d'ya want?"

"I… I came to see if you needed anything," I checked, already getting back up on my feet for a quick departure.

"Nope, I'm fine. Where are ya going?"

"What?"

"You've got your bag all packed up. Where are ya going?"

"Oh… I've been forced into gun training with Rick and Shane. I don't really think I have much of a choice. I'm just gonna go along and prove myself to them, I guess."

"There's no point you going if you can shoot. I ain't a good enough teacher for you, then? What are ya saying? That my teaching method was shit?"

"Well, you were drunk."

Daryl rolled his eyes at me and I pushed myself up from the ground, straightening my shirt out.

"I'll come check on you later," I promised him. "Though, I wouldn't worry… I'm sure one of your female friends will be loitering around when I get back."

He chuckled at that and I bid him goodbye and left.

Everyone else was getting into their cars. I clambered into the truck, resting the rifle that I had been given on my lap. We drove out to an isolated area far from the farm where we set up targets. We would be less likely to be heard out here and we were also respecting Hershel's wishes. He couldn't have asked for more.

I stood at the end of the row, swapping between the rifle and the pistol that I had. The pistol proved to be my favourite as the whole process was quicker than loading up the rifle and aiming with it. I knocked down my target with one hit. Daryl would have been proud.

"You're not bad," Rick said from behind me.

"What did you expect?" I laughed. "You've let me go with all of you on these searches. You surely must have had some hope that I could fire a gun."

"Well, I've never seen you shoot before… ever… or use any weapon, in fact. Why don't you?"

"I'm not gonna kill anything if I can prevent it. There's no need."

Rick just nodded, clearly not agreeing with me. Later on, Andrea and Shane decided to stay on to practice their shooting while the rest of us headed back. Beth chatted to me the whole journey back to the farm. She was a sweet girl, and I felt sorry for her having to live with the burden of all of us. She shouldn't have had to load up a gun and practice shooting it. Nowhere in her life should she have had to do that.

When we got back to the farm, I was the first to jump out of the car. It was stuffy in there and my head ached from all the loud voices and chatter. Benny was cleaning up some guns inside the RV when I hunted him down. He looked up from the table, a small smile on his face. I slid into the seat opposite him and folded my arms on the table, watching his nimble fingers work on the body of the gun.

"How'd shooting practice go?" He asked.

"Shitty as anything," I said. "You know, it's so unfair that they assume that I can't shoot. It's just because I'm a girl, right? All the men must have had experience with their fathers and so on, and a girl couldn't possibly have done that."

"Dad would have never let you out on the loose with a gun, even if he'd been taking you to train. You were a menace with anything that could inflict pain."

"It's a shame he can't see me now. I'm a bloody good shot."

"I don't deny it."

Benny placed the gun aside and I took the rifle and pistol that I'd been using, splaying them out on the table in front of us.

"I never even knew that Dad took you shooting," I told him.

"Neither did Ma," He cracked a grin. "We used to go early in the morning when everyone was still sleeping. We'd shoot down some game and then have it all strung up by the time the house was alive. No one ever did question us."

"Too bad you've got some competition now, big brother. I think I might prove to be quite the little gun prodigy, even if I say so myself."

"Alright, alright… You won't be talking that big talk forever, Annie."

I just laughed as Benny moved onto cleaning the guns I'd placed in front of him. It reminded me that I had to go and retrieve my gun from Daryl. He wouldn't keep it around forever, and I would need it back at some point if I was going to defend myself in this camp.

I jogged lightly down the steps of the RV and across the grass towards where Daryl's tent was. Just as I was about to go in, a commotion sounded over where the laundry was being done. I turned on my heel and headed over to where Lori, Glenn and Maggie were. Maggie was screaming in Lori's face.

"And here's your abortion pills!" She threw a bottle at Lori, and I stood in shock at the words.

Maggie stormed off and Glenn chased after her, leaving Lori standing in their wake. I gaped at the woman. She was pregnant? How could she even consider pregnancy in these trying times? Lori glanced up and jumped slightly when she noticed me.

"Please don't say anything, Annie," She quickly said. "Not to Rick. Not to anybody. I'm not ready to say anything yet."

She waited tensely for my reply, but I couldn't say anything. I just shook my head and backed up, spinning on my heel and heading up towards the farmhouse. If she didn't want me to say anything, then I wouldn't. But I couldn't pretend that I was all fine and dandy with it.

My feet carried me across the grass and inside Hershel's home. I had no idea why I was headed in his direction, but I felt like I just needed some assurance in just one aspect of my life to get through all of this. The older man was sitting at the dining table reading a book when I entered. He briefly looked up at me, closing the book with a snap and setting it aside.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," I rushed out in a gasped breath.

"No, you're not interrupting anything," Hershel pushed himself to his feet. "At least you haven't tried residing in my home unlike some people."

"Lori, yeah, I know… Look, Hershel… I've been meaning to ask this for a while, but I haven't got round to yet. Would you mind checking out my leg?"

"Your leg? What happened to your leg?"

"Quite a while ago, I was shot. All of the bullet fragments were pulled out and everything, but I'm still left in quite a pit of pain every now and then. I was just wondering if you could look me over, put my thoughts at rest?"

Hershel sighed, but he nodded. I thanked him and he motioned towards the bedroom. We entered it, and I sat down on the bed, sliding down my jeans slightly to show him my thigh, where the bullet had embedded itself long ago. The skin was puckered and scarred and I felt disgusted just looking at it. Hershel dropped to his knees beside me, examining the withering wound silently.

"Who pulled the bullet fragments out?" He asked.

"Benny," I replied, jumping at the touch of his cold fingers on my skin. "He found me like this."

"What happened?"

"I… If I tell you, will you promise not to tell anyone? It's not as if I'm keeping secrets, but I haven't mentioned my story to anyone round here, and I'd rather they find out from me if needs be."

The man looked at me curiously with raised eyebrows, but nodded for me to go on anyway. I trusted Hershel. I knew that I could install my trust in him.

"When this all started, I was at home with my sister and my mother. We holed ourselves up in our attic because we heard on the broadcasts that higher ground was safer," I explained. "So, we stayed up in there for a good few weeks. My mother… She'd always been a slightly neurotic woman. She suffered with depression throughout her life, and I knew that it weren't a smart idea to keep her locked up. It slowly drove her insane. She… She took a gun and she put a bullet in me, one in my sister and then she turned the gun on herself."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Hershel looked surprised. "Are they dead?"

"Susie died instantly. I couldn't have done anything to help her. So did Ma. I was fortunate that Benny came. I wouldn't be here if he hadn't."

"It sounds like your brother is quite the hero."

"Oh, he is… Well, he's my hero anyway."


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

Hershel deemed my leg as okay. I only had to adjust to pain because I was on the move so much. He had promised that he wouldn't tell anyone about my family life before sending me on my way. He was a reliable man, and I wondered why everyone else couldn't get along with him smoothly without causing a riot.

I left the warmth of the farmhouse for the cool evening, hopping down the steps of the porch and trekking downhill towards our small campsite. By this time, everybody usually packed in working and started to settle down. They must have been cooking, because I could hear everyone laughing and talking, so they must have been together. There was a slight pause in the conversation as I approached, but the chatter soon picked up again, making me feel a lot more comfortable.

Daryl was sitting with us. Benny sat next to him, talking whatever crap he was talking. The other man just nodded every now and then, grunting in agreement. I nodded at my brother, taking a seat on one of the chairs beside Lori. She glanced up at me, a slightly annoyed expression on her face.

"Where did you go this afternoon?" She asked.

"I went to see Hershel," I informed her, keeping the conversation light. "I asked him to check up on my leg."

"You… You didn't tell him about?"

"No. Why would I do that? I ain't going to tell nobody unless you want me to. I'm not that person, Lori. Sure, maybe I don't agree, but that's your decision to make, not mine."

Lori nodded and offered me a small smile. I returned it, turning towards the plate of food T-Dogg handed me. We carried on eating, resting in our seats and settling into comfort as the sun bore down on our faces from the darkening skies. Glenn stood up from his chair, clearing his throat to get our attention. Dale gave him a nod.

"So, um, guys…" He started. "The barn is full of Walkers."

I gaped at him, dropping the forkful of food I was about to take back to the plate. Was he being serious or was this just some sick joke? Everyone around me was choking on their food and moving from their positions in shock.

In the end, it was decided that we'd all head out to the barn while there was still light. I trudged behind the group, my hands shoved in my pockets. This place had been seen as safe by us – how could this have been going on behind closed doors?

We discovered that Glenn was indeed telling the truth. Outside the barn, I could hear moaning and growling coming from the Walkers trapped inside. We all stared at the wooden structure. Our noses wrinkled in disgust and sighs fell around the group.

"You cannot tell me you're all right with this," Shane turned to glare at Rick.

"No, I'm not, but we're guests here," He shook his head. "This isn't our land."

"This is our lives!"

"Lower your voice," Glenn hissed at them.

"We can't just sweep this under the rug," Andrea chipped in.

"It ain't right. Not remotely. Okay, we've either got to go in there, we've got to make things right or we've just got to go. Now we been talking about FortBenning for a long time."

"We can't go."

"Why, Rick? Why?"

"Because my daughter is still out there," Carol snapped.

I could feel the argument brewing. Shane and Rick always clashed so much within the camp; it was a shock that they hadn't ripped each other's throats out by now. Carol looked close to tears, so I reached over and patted her lightly on the arm in an attempt to reassure her. Though, I doubted that my hard ways would help anyone.

"Okay," Shane stood with his hands on his hips. "Okay, I think it's time that we start to just consider the other possibility."

"We're not leaving Sophia behind," Daryl growled. "I'm close to finding this girl. I just found her damn doll two days ago."

"You found her doll, Daryl. That's what you did. You found a doll."

"You don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"I'm just saying what needs to be said. You get a good lead; it's in the first 48 hours."

"Shane, stop."

"Let me tell you something else, man. If she was alive out there and saw you coming all methed out with your buck knife and geek ears around your neck, she would run in the other direction."

Daryl suddenly lunged towards Shane and all hell broke loose. Shouts and screams filled the group as they fought back and forth like cats and dogs. The groans from the barn continued. I clamped my hands over my ears and through my head back. There was no way we could carry on living together like this.

"Back off!"

"Keep your hands off me!"

"Now just let me talk to Hershel," Rick intercepted. "Let me figure it out."

"What are you gonna figure out?!"

"If we're gonna stay, if we're gonna clear this barn, I have to talk him into it. This is his land."

"Hershel sees those things in there as people…" Dale spoke up, surprising us. "Sick people… His wife, his stepson."

"You knew?"

"Yesterday I talked to Hershel."

"And you waited the night?"

"I thought we could survive one more night. We did. I was waiting till this morning to say something. But Glenn wanted to be the one."

"This man is crazy, Rick," Shane picked up. "If Hershel things those things were alive."

At that time, there was nothing we could do about it. We all went back to our own business, pretending that we had no clue about what was happening right under our noses. I stuffed down breakfast the next morning, running off to find Daryl. He was wandering off to the group stationed around the cars. I quickly dashed in front of him, stopping him from moving any further.

"What do you want?" He grunted, attempting to push past me.

"I needed to ask you something," I remained in front of him. "I've been meaning to ask you for a while. I need my gun back."

"What? Why? You think you're going somewhere?"

"Yeah, maybe I am. I just need it, okay? I need it to feel safe. You took it from me to protect me, now you can give it back to protect me. Please, Daryl. I need it."

He sighed, seeming slightly reluctant. I smiled as he reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out the gun, handing it over to me. Had he been keeping it on him all this time? I lifted up the back of my shirt and tucked the gun into place.

Daryl continued on his way and I tagged along after him, most likely annoying the hell out of him in the process.

"Carol's already tried to stop me this morning, don't you bite at me too," He called over his shoulder.

"Carol's already tried to stop you from doing what?" I frowned slightly to myself, hurrying to keep up with him and fall into step beside him.

"To stop me from looking for Sophia. You ain't gonna tell me that too, are ya?"

"No. I mean, maybe it's not the wisest idea, but I can't stop you. Anyway, you're doing the right thing looking for her. You're the one with the lead."

Daryl nodded in agreement. He didn't turn to look at me again. I sighed, feeling like I was getting nowhere with him. Every time his walls dropped, they were brought straight back up again, stronger than before.

"I… I don't think I'll go out searching today," I mumbled, slowing down.

"What?" He turned to look at me with confusion.

"I'm gonna hang back, help out with things here… Things might get a little messy with Hershel later on. Good luck searching and all."

He didn't understand where I was coming from, but he decided not to question me nonetheless and just shrugged before walking off again. I turned on my heel and headed back in the direction that I came from, my hand lingering over the gun stuffed down the waistband of my jeans. It made me feel a lot more comfortable, knowing that it was there. I just needed it to ease my mind.

Lori was doing the laundry when I got back, sweat dripping down her head. I bent down and picked up a couple of shirts, helping her hang them on the makeshift line.

"Rick knows," She said, not even having to explain it.

"I'm glad you told him," I nodded. "It wouldn't have been fair to keep him in the dark. It's his baby too, after all."

There was a pause as Lori glanced bashfully to the floor. I raised my eyebrows but didn't push it. Why should I? It wasn't like I needed to. We all knew that Lori and Shane had been fooling around. Heck, Rick probably knew it too by now. No wonder Shane was going off the rails. It was probably down to jealousy and hatred.

"Do you… Do you think that a baby will do well in this world?" Lori asked, refusing to make eye contact.

"I don't know," I huffed honestly. "I couldn't tell you. But, I will tell you one thing. If you're willing to do everything that you can for that kid, then something's bound to go right. Sure, it may not be the best life, but it won't know life any other way. So make it a good life."


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

Dirt smeared across my jeans as I scrubbed the palms of my hands up and down my thighs. I squinted my eyes in the glaring sun and looked around the land in front of me. It seemed that everyone was going about their normal business. Benny was sprawled out on top of the RV with Glenn.

"Where's Dale?" I called out to them as I approached.

"He asked me to go and get him some water," Glenn replied. "He was gone by the time I got back. So, Ben and I are gonna full his boots for the rest of the day."

"Oh."

I just nodded. They looked like a couple of middle aged men camped up on top of the RV. All they needed were a couple of bottle of beers and golfing sweaters and they would be right away with it.

They remained there as I trudged away, moving over towards the barn. Shane had demanded that people remained stationed at it to ensure that no Walkers would get out and start ripping us to pieces. With the lock on the door, I didn't think that it would be too much hassle. They were secure, and I didn't feel unsafe. Who were we to judge what Hershel could and couldn't do anyway?

Daryl was heading out of the woods as I walked. I slowed down. He must have finished his searching for the day. Carol had been a bit upset when she'd finished talking to him earlier, and I wondered what had happened. He glanced up at me and rolled his eyes slightly as he approached.

"You're like a lost puppy," He commented as he reached me.

"I dunno," I raised a hand to protect my eyes like a visor. "You're the one who came over to me."

"Yeah, yeah, alright."

"Did you find anything while you were out there today?"

"No… Her trail is going cold. I can't pick up anything."

I sighed and looked down to the floor, kicking my boots in the ground. Carol would be so upset when she heard. We'd been searching so much, and it seemed that it was all for nothing. I wouldn't be able to stand telling her that we would have to move on at some point, with or without Sophia.

"Don't worry," I offered him a small smile. "We'll find her. Anyway… I've been meaning to ask… What happened between you and Carol this morning?"

"Nothing," Daryl snapped.

"Oh, alright, because that's not why she's holed up in the RV. She hasn't spoken to anyone. I'm not accusing you of anything. Heck, I'm not blaming you. But don't be taking your frustration out on anyone else."

"I'm not. Christ girl, what makes you think you know everything?"

His eyes narrowed and I glared right back at him, my hands resting on my hips. There was no point me arguing with him anymore, as it would just end up in an unfixable row. I could see Benny watching suspiciously from the top of the RV.

"Doesn't matter," I grumbled. "But don't think you can start taking up this attitude with me. I've had enough of you moping around."

I turned and stormed off, knowing that he wouldn't follow me. No matter what the situation, Daryl Dixon would never chase after a woman. He would always leave them chasing after him.

As Maggie walked past, I witnessed Glenn jump down the RV to dash after her. I decided to join my brother. We didn't make any noises of acknowledgement as we sat beside each other. His legs were kicked up, a rifle slung across his shoulder as he sat with his head tilted back. Since we'd sorted out everything, he had seemed to miraculously clean himself up. He didn't look so scruffy and desperate anymore. He just looked like a normal guy again.

"What did Daryl want?" He asked curiously, breaking the silence.

"He was just complaining as per usual," I smirked slightly at my brother. "He ain't got the guts to say boo to a goose though."

"And by that, I suppose that you mean that you're the goose."

"Damn right I am."

Benny chuckled and shook his head. I glanced down again to see Maggie and Glenn kissing. Well, it hadn't taken them long to make up, had it? Benny looked slightly wistful as he noticed them. I knew that he was missing Olivia, but we couldn't do anything to change that. Not that I would want to anyway, even if this wasn't happening. Olivia had always been a nasty piece of work.

"Things will move on, you know," I reminded him lightly.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Just because the world's in a shamble, it doesn't mean that there aren't other people out there like you. Who knows? Maybe you'll bump into your soul mate one day."

"I dunno… I doubt it. Do you think I'll ever find Olivia?"

"Look, Benny. The chances are slim, okay? I don't wanna be the bad guy here, but you know it's true. Besides… If you really wanted to find her, you'd be looking."

There was a pause. I knew that my brother was mulling it over as he was wringing his wrists, clicking the bones annoyingly. And I also knew that he knew I was right, because he kept heaving out heavy sighs.

"Looks like a storm is brewing," Benny nodded over towards the cars.

I looked over to see that Shane had appeared from wherever he had been, the gun bag slung over his shoulder. Daryl and Andrea were talking to him about the trail they were supposed to go on.

"Shouldn't Rick have been back by now?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Probably," Benny shrugged. "But it was Hershel who wanted to see him. If he can do anything to get on Hershel's good side, he's gonna take it."

As Shane barged over to the porch of the farmhouse, I took to the ladder of the RV, clambering down and running over to them. He was unzipping the gun bag, brandishing about the deadly weapons in front of the group before him. I hopped up the steps, standing with my arms crossed.

"What's this all about?" I asked.

"Time to grow up…" Shane replied. "Look, it was one thing sitting around here picking daisies when we thought this place was supposed to be safe. But now we know it ain't."

He started to hand out the guns in the bag. I hesitantly stepped away from him, but he shoved one at my chest anyway. My fingers wrapped around the cool metal and I frowned down at the rifle. Daryl nodded approvingly at me as I took it. Was he really agreeing with Shane about all of this? There was no need for us to go barging into the barn and destroying what we had.

"How about you, man?" Shane turned to Glenn. "You gonna protect yours?"

Glenn glanced briefly at Maggie, but resumed to take the gun from Shane's hands.

"That's it," Shane grinned. "Can you shoot?"

"Can you stop?" Maggie retaliated. "You do this, you hand out these guns, my dad will make you leave tonight."

"We have to stay, Shane."

Benny approached us. He took a gun willingly from Shane as he handed it to him. I glared at my brother slightly for giving in so easily, but he shrugged it off.

"Now look, Hershel, he's just gotta understand," Shane continued. "Okay? He… Well, he's gonna have to. Now we need to find Sophia. Am I right? Huh? Now, I want you to take this. You take it, Carl, and you keep your mother safe. You do whatever it takes. You know how. Go on, take the gun and do it."

Lori yanked her son away with a look of distaste on her face. Suddenly, we heard growling and clapping. We glanced up to see Rick and Hershel leading two Walkers on animal control poles towards the barn while Jimmy acted as bait, leading them in that direction.

"What is that?" Shane snapped, taking off instantly.

Everyone rushed to follow behind him, breaking into a light jog towards the scene. Our guns were cocked and poised, thinking that the Walkers were a threat, when really they were only trapped.

"What the hell are you doing?" Shane yelled, moving to Rick.

"Shane, just back off… Shane, just let us do this and then we can talk."

"What you want to talk about, Rick? These things ain't sick. They're not people. They're dead. Ain't gonna feel nothing for him 'cause all they do, they kill! These things right here, they're the things that kill Amy. They killed Otis. They're gonna kill all of us."

I could see Andrea's and Patricia's faces visibly drop at the sound of the names. The rest of us lingered back awkwardly. There was a part of me that understood Shane's words, but he was going about it the wrong way. Anyway… why the heck would I want to listen to him? After all he'd put me through, he didn't deserve my attention.

"Hey, Hershel man, let me ask you something…" Shane moved to the old man. "Could a living breathing person, could they walk away from this?"

There was a collective jump from the bystanders as Shane lifted his gun, shooting the Walker that Hershel had clamped on the pole.

"No!" Rick yelled. "Stop it!"

"That's three rounds in the chest," Shane ignored him. "Could someone who's alive, cold they just take that?! Why is it still coming? That's its heart, its lungs. Why is it still coming?"

Hershel's face remained monotonous as Shane continued his ring of gunshots. I lowered my head to the ground. I knew that these things weren't people, but Shane's words were rough and violent and I couldn't bear to listen to them anymore. He was a changed man. And nothing about this change was positive.

"Shane, enough," Rick stopped him.

"Yeah, you're right, man. That is enough. Enough risking our lives for a little girl who's gone! Enough living next to a barn full of things that are trying to kill us. Enough. Rick, it ain't like it was before! Now if y'all want to live, if you want to survive, you got to fight for it! I'm talking about fighting right here, right now."

Rick tried to persuade Hershel to take the pole of the Walker he was keeping at bay, as the other Walker sprawled officially dead on the ground. Shane moved to the barn, hacking away at the padlock that was keeping the doors sealed shut.

The survivors with guns were moving to stand in a line formation, ready to shoot down the Walkers when they emerged. I moved forward, knowing that I couldn't stand by and watch anyone in the group possibly get taken down because I hadn't been there to make the first hit. Daryl glanced at me as I moved forward, raising the rifle in my hands. This was wrong. I couldn't believe I was doing this, but it seemed I had no choice.

The pleads Rick made fell upon deaf ears as Shane smashed away at the lock. Finally, it fell away. Walkers filed out slowly from the barn. I waited a few seconds before lifting the gun in my hands once more, firing. One of the Walkers was knocked down with the shot I made. I continued making headshots at the numerous amounts of Walkers, along with the others.

We took down more than I had expected to. Their bodies heaped in clusters on the floor as we lodged our bullets into their brains.

Then, there was silence.

No more came out and we were all left staring in shock and guilt at the barn. I instantly dropped my gun, feeling the immoral spilling of blood on my hands. Yes, those things weren't human and yes, I would have killed them in any other situation without hesitation… but this wasn't right. We were wrong.

A very light groan came from inside the barn, and we all looked up, waiting. A few guns were aimed but we knew that there couldn't be much more of a threat cooped up in there. The sun bore down on us as we waited for the lone Walker to emerge. At first, it was just a shadow. A small, slight shadow, which stretched far along the ground in the middle of the day.

"Sophia? Sophia! Oh no. Sophia. Sophia. No."

My eyes glazed over as I saw Carol's little girl emerging from the barn in Walker form. Her head twisted unnaturally and her eyes narrowed in the glaring light. Her skin took a grey, ashen shade and her clothes were ripped, covered in mud and blood.

Carol ran forwards to her baby. Luckily, Daryl managed to grab her and lower her to the ground before she could run right into the danger zone. A few more guns were abandoned as we all stared at Sophia, limping her way in her direction. Right now, she was a threat. And we were taught to always eliminate a threat.

Rick made the first move, stepping forwards with his gun raised. There was no way that I could watch this. Not only was it a little girl, but it was a little girl I knew. This new world just wasn't fair.

"Don't watch," Daryl murmured to Carol.

My brother turned and moved towards me, grabbing me in his arms and pulling me close to his chest. I could feel tears pricking my eyes as I turned away, preferring to bury my face in my brother's shirt rather than watch what was about to go down.

There was a brief silence before the gunshot rang loud and clear. The only other thing I could hear was Carol's wails. Even Shane had lowered his gun and slowed down. All of that searching had proved to be nothing. Sophia had been right under our noses all this time. And now, she was completely under. She was dead.


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

Silence lingered in the air as we stared at the bodies of those who had once been. Beth crept forwards towards the form of her mother. Nobody else moved. As sobs wracked Carol's body, we all stood and we all stared. There was nothing else we could do.

Beth stepped over the other figures to reach her mother, dropping down beside her. I waited with my breath held. Suddenly, her mother moved and grabbed onto her youngest daughter.

"Pull her away, pull her away!"

Glenn ran and held the Walker's wrists while Rick and Shane pulled at Beth, dragging her away from what had once been her mother. I waited in anticipation, but she was okay. Shane turned sharply to face Hershel, and I knew that it wasn't over yet.

"We've been out," He started. "We've been out combing these woods looking for her and she was in there all along? You knew."

"Hey, Shane, just stop, man," Rick reached out.

"Get your hands off me. I… - You knew and you kept it from us."

"I didn't know," Hershel said bitterly.

"That's bullshit. I think y'all knew."

"Otis put those people in the barn. Maybe he found her and put her in there before he was killed."

"You expect me to believe that? Do I look like an idiot?"

"Shane, hey hey hey."

I tugged away from Benny to face the scene once more. My brother moved forward to try and attempt to help Rick keeping Shane from causing anymore chaos. He had done enough already in this short space of time. I rubbed my face with my hands tiredly. How had everything turned to shit so quickly?

"Get him off my land!" Hershel yelled, jabbing a finger at Shane.

Then, the argument escalated. It wasn't only Shane who Hershel wanted off of his land, but rather everyone. Faces fell and any hope that anyone had was crumbling. I groaned to myself, bending down and picking up the rifle that I had chucked aside, turning and walking back to the campsite. There was no way I could hang around all of that any longer. I had to get out and take a breather.

I ducked into my tent, ripping off my bloodily stained vest and throwing on a new shirt. Now, the only thing that I could do would be to throw myself into heavy labour to try and take my mind off of things. The tent flap unzipped and I looked up in surprise to see Daryl clambering in, manoeuvring his crossbow so that it wouldn't tear down the material of the tent.

"What do you want?" I snapped at him, tying my hair up.

"I came to see if ya were alright," Daryl muttered, making it almost impossible for me to hear his soft words. "You stormed off back there pretty quick."

"Yeah, well… I couldn't stand to be around any of them for any longer. This is all Shane's fault. None of this would have happened if he hadn't been so irrational."

"You shot too, you know."

"Oh, don't turn this round on me, Daryl! You were one of the first to draw a gun. I bet you weren't expecting Sophia to walk out of there, were you?!"

In the short space of time we had been talking, my talk became a shout and I was screaming in Daryl's face. He wasn't one to pull away. I was surprised. He had to have guts to be able to face a pissed off woman.

"You thought you were going to find her unscathed," I carried on. "You thought you could save her. Well, it was a lost hope, wasn't it? Everything about this place is a lost hope. If you think we can get out of this, then you're wrong. You're all wrong."

"You're the one who's being negative about all of this! Maybe if you perked up and stopped acting like such a coward, we might actually get somewhere."

"Get somewhere? And what is that supposed to mean, Daryl? That maybe we could be civilised with one another and pretend to be having a fine and dandy time together during this time of absolute anarchy? Yeah, I'm sure that's what you wanted."

"Heck, maybe that's what you need."

My own words were lost to my ears as I carried on ranting. Daryl fell back ever so slightly, but I could see him fuming. Steam was practically emerging from his ears. I didn't even know what I was saying anymore. It probably didn't make any sense, but I just wanted him to know I was angry. I wanted him to know that I was hurting too.

Suddenly, with one swift moment, his hands clamped down on either side of my face. I placed my hands on his chest, struggling to push away from the strong man. He looked into my eyes very briefly before slamming his lips onto my own.

I froze with shock, not knowing what to do. Daryl Dixon was kissing me. I didn't respond in any way. I just sat there awkwardly, my mind racing at the speed of lightening, yet still struggling to catch up with what was happening.

Daryl pulled back as quickly as he had made the move. My cheeks were flushed with anger and embarrassment and I was panting from all of the yelling. Daryl fell back on his heels, resting his hands on his knees. Why had he done that? I ran a hand across the back of my mouth, looking down. My face was burning.

"We all do things that we don't mean when we're sad," I said, deciding that was the only justifiable reason for what had just happened.

There was a pause. I refused to lift my head. I wouldn't know how to react if he was still staring at me.

"Yeah," He agreed in a mutter. "That's what it was. Sorry."

The flap to the tent was pushed open again and I could hear Daryl moving. When he was gone, I moved my head up and pushed my hair away from my head. What the hell was that? Tears burned my eyes and my head ached with confusion and suffering and grief.

But, I had no time to waste. People would start to wonder. I removed myself from the tent and headed on back over to the barn where a small group were digging graves for Sophia, Annette and Shawn nearby. Hershel's wife and stepson.

T-Dogg glanced up as I approached, wiping sweat from his brow.

"Need a hand?" I asked.

He picked up a shovel sprawled on the ground, handing it to me. I helped him and the others dig at the hard soil, uprooting it from the ground and tossing it over my shoulder. It seemed like we were working for hours to get the three graves dug and ready, but they were soon completed.

As we wrapped our beloved bodies in cloth and buried them under the ground for the service that had been decided on, Benny came over to me. He tugged on my elbow and led me away from the group, standing on the outskirts of the woods. I rested my hands on my hips as I waited for him to start talking.

"That sure was a lot of screaming coming from your tent," He said softly.

"Benny," I sighed. "Did anyone else hear it?"

"No, I doubt it. Sure, it was loud, but too far. I heard it when I came over to get some supplies for digging. Are you okay, Annie? It sounded pretty rough."

"It doesn't matter anymore. It was stupid."

"I don't know what happened in there, and I'm not going to ask, but you know that you can turn to me whenever you need a hand. Right?"

"Yeah, I know. Thanks, Ben. Thanks for being there for me."

My brother nodded and turned away. I glanced over to see Daryl entering the RV to retrieve Carol for the makeshift funeral. Good. He would be better with her anyway. Maybe she would deal with his shit better than I could.

Carol ended up not coming. The rest of us stood around the hastily made graves, our heads bowed and our hands clasped. Nobody said anything. At the same time as being pleasantly silent, it was also daunting. I had shed all my tears, and I had nothing left to cry. When it was finished, everybody parted in different directions. I noticed that Daryl started trekking across the fields. At least I wouldn't have to put up with bumping into him.

I shoved my hands in my back pockets and made my way up to the farmhouse, closing the front door lightly behind me. Hershel hadn't entered and I hadn't seen him leave. Lori rushed out of a room, almost knocking into me. She gasped in surprise when she saw me standing in front of her.

"Is everything alright?" I asked, looking over her shoulder.

"Beth has gone into some kind of shock," Lori replied. "We need Hershel. Have you seen him anywhere? None of us can seem to find him."

"No, I haven't, I'm sorry. I haven't seen him since the service. He just took off. But he didn't come up here, I know that much."

"Did you see where he went?"

I just shook my head. Lori sighed. Why did I have to be so useless all the time? That would have to start changing. Right then, I made a vow to myself that I would try to pull my weight more. That I would try to help out within the camp more and actually make my time with them worth the while. Right now, I would have been better off dead. I should have taken Sophia's place.

Rick finally deducted that Hershel would be at the local bar in town. He and Glenn were gearing up to go. I hurried over to them, my backpack slung over my shoulder. Rick glanced up as my footsteps pounded in their direction at the car.

"What's up, Annie?" He asked.

"I can come with you," I breathed out. "I'll help. You might need an extra hand… Just in case the town is overrun with Walkers or anything. I can help."

"Annie, I don't know… You'd probably be better off here. You can help out. I'm sure that someone will have something for you to do."

"No, Rick, please don't make me stay. I can't hang around here for much longer. Just… please let me go with you. I won't be a bother, I swear to you."

He hesitated but finally sighed, nodding his head. While Maggie and Glenn talked, I yanked open the car door, sliding into the backseat and propping my bag on the seat next to me. My trusty pistol was still in my waistband and the rifle that I had used earlier was fully reloaded and resting in my lap.

Glenn and Rick got in up front and we started the journey towards town, riding smoothly along the roads. I laid my head back on the seat, closing my eyes. So much had happened today, and I wasn't sure if I'd placed myself in the best position by opting for more possibly trouble and chaos.

"Maggie said she loves me," Glenn spoke up, making me open my eyes. "She doesn't mean it. I mean she can't. I mean… well… She's… she's upset or confused. She's probably feeling, like…"

"I think she's smart enough to know what she's feeling," Rick interrupted the younger boy, smiling slightly.

"No, you know what? She wants to be in love, so she's… she needs something to… to, like… to hold onto."

"Glenn, it's pretty obvious to everyone Maggie loves you, and not just because you're one of the last men standing. So what's the problem?"

"I didn't say it back."

I drew in breath slightly, causing Rick to very lightly chuckle. Glenn turned his head over his shoulder to shoot me a small glare.

"I've never had a woman say that to me before except my mum, of course, and my sisters," Glenn continued. "But with Maggie, it's different. We barely know each other. What… What does she really know about me? Nothing. We're practically strangers. But I… I didn't know what to do with it. I just stood there like a jerk."

"Hey. Hey, this is a good thing, something we don't get enough of these days. Enjoy it. And when we get back, return the favour. It's not like she's going anywhere."

Glenn nodded his head. I smiled at the 'manly' talk that they were having with each other. Glenn was such a sweet boy, and truly head over heels for Maggie, and I knew that they would make a great couple. She truly did love him.

The car pulled up in town, and I lifted my bag onto my shoulder, resting my hand on the door so that I could get out.

"Rick?" Glenn spoke up again before we moved. "I know about Lori, her being pregnant. I got her those pills."

"I figured."

"Hey, I'm sorry I kept it from you."

"Don't be. You did what you thought was right. It just so happens it wasn't."

We all jumped out of the car, moving towards the bar. I strayed behind a few metres before hurrying to catch up with Rick and Glenn. Rick stood in the middle of the trio and we surrounded him. He was a clear leader in everything we did.

"I knew too," I said quietly. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything either. I was going to, but Lori made me promise not to. She wanted to be the one to tell you. You can't blame her for that. She made the right call on that one."

"What do you mean? Why are you sticking up for her?" Rick frowned in confusion.

"Think about it, Rick. You would have much preferred Lori coming to tell you rather than one of us. Can you imagine hearing something like that from one of us just because we thought we could go blabbing at the top of our voices? You may be annoyed about it, but she was protecting you and she was protecting us. Don't blame her for it."

"I know, Annie. I know."


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

We walked up to the bar. There was a moment of hesitation before Rick finally settled on pushing the door open. It swung creakily on its hinges before slamming behind us as we entered. My head snapped over my shoulder and I almost glared accusingly at the door before I realised how stupid and jumpy I was about this whole situation. The town was desolate of Walkers – if we could act quickly, we wouldn't have a problem. That was the main task at hand.

"Hershel?" Rick asked.

"Who's with you?" The older man asked.

He faced away from us, hunched over the dusty bar. I could see his lined hands clasped around the rim of a glass.

"Glenn and Annie," Rick replied, not rushing to move forward. "They volunteered. They're good like that… How many have you had?"

"Not enough," Hershel said dryly.

"Let's finish this up back at home. Beth collapsed, is in some sort of state. Must be in shock. I think you are too."

"Maggie's with her?"

"Yeah, but Beth needs you."

"What could I do? She needs her mother. Or rather to mourn like she should've done weeks ago. I robbed her of that. I see that now."

"You thought there was a cure. Can't blame yourself for holding out for hope."

"Hope? When I first saw you running across my field with your boy in your arms, I had little hope he would survive."

"But he did."

"He did. Even though we lost Otis. Your man Shane made it back and we saved your boy. That was the miracle that proved to me miracles do exist. Only it was a sham, a bait and switch. I was a fool, Rick, and you people saw that. My daughters deserve better than that."

Rick looked at a loss for words. I clamped a hand to my sweaty forehead, praying that they would hurry this up. We couldn't hang around for long, because things were bound to go downhill. I glanced nervously over my shoulder again, cussing to myself lightly under my breath.

"So what do we do?" Glenn breathed. "Just wait for him to pass out?"

"There's not enough time for that," I muttered. "We'd be better dragging him out against his free will."

"Just go," Hershel said. "Just go!"

"I promised Maggie I'd bring you home safe," Rick shook his head.

"Like you promised that little girl?"

There was an awkward pause. Sophia's death had been so recent, and none of us were at that stage yet where we could fully accept that she was gone. I hitched my backpack up higher on my shoulder, adjusting the rifle in my hands.

"So what's your plan?" Rick carried on, a slight firmer tone being used. "Finish that bottle? Drink yourself to death and leave your girls alone?"

"Stop telling me how to care for my family, my farm," Hershel snapped. "You people are like a plague! I do the Christian thing, give you shelter, and you destroy it all!"

"The world was already in bad shape when we met."

"And you take no responsibility! You're supposed to be their leader!"

"Well, I'm here now, aren't I?"

"Yes… Yes, you are."

"Now come on. Your girls need you now more than ever."

Glenn glanced over at me with a worried expression on his face. All I could do was shrug my shoulders. Hershel was just not complying. He was having a major conflict here over what he was supposed to do. How could I blame him though? Hadn't I just experienced something so similar back on the farm? My mind wondered to Daryl and I hoped that he was okay. It looked like he'd packed up and moved far away from us all.

"I didn't want to believe you," Hershel mumbled, drawing my attention back to him once more. "You told me there was no cure, that these people were dead, not sick. I chose not to believe that. But when Shane shot Lou in the chest and she just kept coming, that's when I knew what an ass I'd been, that Annette had been dead lone ago and I was feeding a rotten corpse! That's when I knew there was no hope. And when that little girl came out of the barn, the look on your face… I knew you knew it too. Right? There is no hope. And you know it now, like I do."

His words touched my heart. Not in a sentimental way, but just in understanding. Even though I didn't want to believe it, Hershel was right. There wasn't any hope left in this world. Not anymore. And I'd tossed all that hope aside with the last person that had any care for me at all.

"Look, I'm done," Rick's voice spoke up again. "I'm not doing this anymore, cleaning up after you. You know what the truth is? Nothing has changed. Death is death. It's always been there, whether it's from a heart attack, cancer, or a Walker. What's the difference? You didn't think it was hopeless before, did you? Now there are sick people at home trying to hang on. They need us, even if it's just to give them a reason to go on, even if we don't believe it ourselves. You know what? This… this isn't about what we believe anymore. It's about them."

A small smile forced its way onto my face. I hadn't expected Rick to handle the situation so well, but he had done an astounding job. Hershel turned on the bar stool he was perched on, facing us. He had seen the light. Heck, with Rick's words, I'd seen it too. I knew that I had to make things right.

Suddenly, my fears of taking too much time were confirmed, and the bar doors swung open. Two men were standing there. A man in a muscle tee and a bigger man, whom took on the appearance of his henchman. The bigger man and a rifle clenched in his podgy hands. I very quickly moved my hands to man my own rifle, but I didn't raise the gun. They hadn't posed as a threat yet.

"Son of a bitch," The skinner man grinned. "They're alive."

They didn't hesitate in walking straight into the bar, their heavy footsteps leaving prints in the dust on the floor. I backed up slightly as I'd been the closest to them.

"I'm Dave," The main man said, taking a seat at one of the tables. "That scrawny-looking douche bag there is Tony."

"Eat me, Dave," The other sat down too, not releasing his gun. "Hey, maybe someday I will."

Dave moved to go and pour out some glasses of whiskey. I watched Tony with narrowed eyes and he stared right back at me, his fingers lingering on the trigger of his gun as it lay on the table in front of him.

"We met on the I-95 coming out of Philly," Dave picked up. "Damn shit-show that was."

He started to pass out drinks. As he reached me with a smile on his face, he held out the glass in front of him. I just raised my hand and shook my head.

"Suit yourself," Dave shrugged and moved on.

"I'm Glenn," Glenn was the first to start any means of conversation. "It's nice to meet some new people here."

"Rick Grimes."

"Annie."

Hershel said nothing. I didn't' even know why I'd bothered to introduce myself. These men surely weren't what they seemed to be, and I didn't want any part in what would go down if things went wrong. It was weird to see other survivors, but I also felt incredibly cautious. Of course they wouldn't be like us. Other people took other routes of survival, so we most likely had nothing in common.

"How about you, pal?" Dave asked Hershel. "Have one?"

"I just quit," Hershel replied sourly.

"You have a unique sense of timing, my friend."

"His name's Hershel," Rick spoke up for him "He lost people today, a lot of them."

"I'm truly sorry to hear that. To better days and new friends. And to our dead… may they be in a better place."

Dave lifted his glass before downing it. I shook my head in distaste, turning away from him. Tony had his beady eyes constantly trained on him and I could feel him smirking slightly. When the world went to shit, I kind of forgot about the other people. The bad people who had been there even when the world had been a better place. They had never changed, just like the good people. These were the only men I'd come across since our little group. I didn't know what they were like.

As Dave's hand moved to his gun, Rick went to raise his. Dave simply laid the gun on the table in front of him, raising his hands ever so slightly in surrender.

"Ah… Not bad, huh? I got it off a cop," He smirked.

"I'm a cop," Rick cocked an eyebrow.

"This one was already dead."

"You fellas are a long way from Philadelphia."

"It feels like we're a long way from anyway."

"Well, what drove you South?"

"Well, I can tell you it wasn't the weather. I must've dropped 30 lbs in sweat alone down here."

"I wish."

Rick laughed with them ever so lightly. Glenn cracked a smile too, while Hershel remained stoic faced. I just looked away, busying myself with picking at my nails.

"No, first it was D.C.," Dave explained. "I heard there might be some kind of refugee camp, but the roads were so jammed, we didn't even get close. We decided to get off the highways, into the sticks, keep hauling ass. Every group we came across had a new rumour about a way out of this thing. One guy told us there was the coast guard sitting in the Gulf, sending ferries to the islands. The latest was a rail yard in Montgomery running trains to the middle of the country… Kansas, Nebraska."

"Nebraska?"

"Low population, lots of guns," Dave answered Glenn. "Kinda makes sense. Ever been to Nebraska, kid? A reason they call 'em flyover states. How about you guys?"

"FortBenning, eventually."

There was an intake of breath and I could see Dave glance over at Tony out of the corner of my eye. It was predictable what they were going to say. Even I knew that the truth would have to come out at some point. Nothing could be settled in this world.

"I hate to piss in your cornflakes, officer, but…" Dave shrugged. "We ran across a grunt who was stationed at Benning. He said the place was overrun by lamebrains."

"Wait, FortBenning is gone?" Glenn gaped. "Are you for real?"

"Sadly, I am. Oddly, the truth is there is no way out of this mess. Just keep going from one pipe dream to the next, praying one of these mindless freaks doesn't grab ahold of you when you sleep."

"If you sleep," Tony pitched in.

"Yeah, it doesn't look like you guys are hanging your hats here. You holed up somewhere else?"

"Not really."

"Those your cars out front?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"They look kinda empty, clean. Where's all your gear?"

"We're with a larger group out scouting, thought we could use a drink," Hershel finally said something, leaving me the only one remaining in silence.

I could see Tony pushing himself up from his seat, still not ditching his gun. He was moving painfully slow in my direction and I could feel myself cringing away more by the second. Rick watched me out of the corner of his eye and Dave did too, but he said nothing to warn off his friend.

"A drink?" Dave smirked. "Hershel, I thought you quit… Well, we're thinking of setting up around here. Is it… is it safe?"

"It can be, although I have killed a couple of Walkers around here."

"Walkers? That what you call them?"

"Yeah."

"That's good. I like that. I like that better than lamebrains. More succinct."

Dave spoke about Tony's college days as Tony placed a hand up against the wall nearest to me, unzipping his pants and relieving himself. We all looked away in disgust. I crinkled my nose up and found myself taking even more steps back as I heard the liquid trickling against the wall and saw it spilling onto the floorboards.

"So what…" Dave ignored it. "So what, you guys set up on the outskirts or something? That new development? Trailer park or something? A farm?"

He started to sing Old McDonald, a relentless smirk on his face. Tony zipped up again and turned on his heel, moving in my direction.

"You got food, water?" Dave requested.

"You got cooze? Ain't had a piece of ass in weeks."

Tony suddenly moved his hand out to reach towards me and I quickly lifted my gun, pointing it straight in his face. He lifted his hands in surrender and backed up a few seconds. Rick moved towards him, also prepared to draw his gun. Dave stood up and took on the role as the peacemaker.

"Listen, pardon my friend," He smiled apologetically, trying to make a joke. "City kids… they got no tact. No disrespect… So, listen, Glenn…"

"We've said enough," Rick snapped.

"Well, hang on a second. This farm… it sounds pretty sweet. Don't it sound sweet, Tony?"

"Yeah, real sweet," His friend said, smirking at me.

I realised that these were the bad kind of men, the kind of men that your mother always told you to avoid on late nights. No matter how much Daryl irritated me sometimes, I would much rather be holed up with him any day than one of these arrogant men.

"How about a little Southern hospitality?" Dave asked. "We got some buddies back at camp, been having a real hard time. I don't see why you can't make room for a few more. We can pool our resources, our manpower."

"Look, I'm sorry. That's not an option," Rick quickly denied.

"Doesn't sound like it'd be a problem," He moved behind the bar.

"I'm sorry. We can't. We can't take in any more."

"You guys are something else. I thought… I thought we were friends. We got people we gotta look out for too."

"We don't know anything about you."

"No, that's true. You don't know anything about us. You don't know what we've had to go through out thee, the things we've had to do. I bet you've had to do some of those same things yourself. Am I right? 'Cause ain't nobody's hands clean in what's left of this world. We're all the same. So come on, let's… let's take a nice friendly hayride to this farm and we'll get to know each other."

"That's not gonna happen."

"Rick… this is bullshit," Tony looked wound up, making moves closer again.

"Calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down. Don't ever tell me to calm down. I'll shoot you four assholes in the head and take your damn farm!"

As Tony lifted his gun menacingly, I took mine too. He looked at me as if he was no threat, but he did step back minimally as he noticed that my finger was in contact with the trigger. I wouldn't be hesitant when it came to shooting this pathetic excuse of a man.

"Take it easy," Dave soothed. "Nobody's killing anybody. Nobody's shooting anybody. Right, Rick? Look. We're just friends having a drink. That's all. Now where's the good stuff, huh? Good stuff, good stuff, good stuff. Let's see. Hey, look at that. That'll work… You gotta understand… we can't stay out there. You know what it's like."

"Yeah, I do," Rick made eyes at the man pouring the whiskey. "But the farm is too crowded as it is. I'm sorry. You'll have to keep looking."

"Keep looking. Where do you suggest we do that?"

"I don't know. I hear Nebraska's nice."

"Nebraska. This guy."

Dave laughed slyly and Tony mimicked it. Before the men even had a chance to lift their guns, Rick had made his move. He shot Dave clean in the head before spinning on Tony and shooting him twice in the chest. The larger man slid down the wall, leaving a trail of sticky blood behind him.

Rick stepped over to him, pointing his gun and shooting him in the head for good measures. We all stood and stared at him and his eyes glinted dangerously. Our breathing came out heavy and we all had slight panicked expressions on our faces.

I could feel my face heating up with anger at how Tony had acted towards me. I shifted the rifle to one hand and lifted my free hand to my face, running a hand across it and sighing.

"Annie?" Rick asked, breaking me from my trance. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine… I'm fine. I suppose there are still some aspects of the world that just didn't change, huh?"

The officer nodded and I looked down at the body at his feet. At least some justice had been served today.


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

Lights shone through the window of the bar and I cussed upon realising that cars were pulling up. I ducked down, dragging myself beneath the window and pulling my knees to my chest so there wouldn't be an unnecessary length of shadow cast across the dusty floor. It was now dark outside, and I regretted staying out here for so long. At least now we had some cooperation from Hershel.

"Dave?" A male voice called out. "Tony? They said over here?"

"I'm telling you man, I heard shots."

"I saw roamers two streets over. Might be more around here."

"It's hot. We gotta get out of here"

"Dave! Tony!"

"Shut up, you idiot! You wanna attract 'em? Just stick close. We're gonna find 'em."

I glanced over briefly to the others, who were all cooped up in similar positions. While Glenn fretted to himself about getting back alive to tell Maggie his answer, I also worried that I wouldn't be able to talk to Daryl. What if that argument would end up being his last recollection of me? I couldn't allow that to happen. We had to finish things on a good note.

"Why won't they leave?" Glenn whispered. "We can't sit here any longer. Let's head out the back and make a run to the car."

A gunshot fired and I heard them talking about the Walkers. So, the monsters really did come about at night.

The footsteps moved towards the door and I could see the panic on Glenn's face. As the men outside went to push open the heavy wooden frames, Glenn slammed his body against it to keep it shut. I cringed to myself. There was no way that they would just let that go as a blast of wind or something.

"What?"

"Someone pushed it shut. There's someone in there… Yo, if someone's in there, we don't want no trouble. We're just looking for our friends."

"What do we do? Bum rush the door?"

"No, we don't know how many are there. Just relax… We don't want any trouble. We're just looking for our friends. If something happened, tell us. This place is crawling with corpses. If you can help us not get killed, I'd appreciate it."

"Someone guard the door. If they're in there, they might know where Dave and Tony are."

The footsteps began to depart, but Rick finally decided to call out back to them. I clamped a hand to my mouth as I listened; pushing myself up to balance on the balls of my feet in case I had to move fast. If these men were anything like Dave and Tony, that was a high possibility.

"They drew on us!" Rick called, and the footsteps returned.

"Dave and Tony in there?" One of the men asked. "They alive?"

"No."

"They killed Dave and Tony."

"Come on, man, let's go."

"No, I'm not leaving, I'm not telling Jane. I'm not gonna go back and tell them that Dave and Tony got shot by some assholes in a bar."

"Your friends drew on us!" Rick interrupted them. "They gave us no choice! I'm sure we've all lost enough people, done things we wish we didn't have to, but it's like that now. You know that! So let's just chalk this up to what it was… wrong place, wrong-"

A shotgun fired. The windows above us shattered into a trillion small pieces. I fell forward on my hands and knees with my eyes squeezed shut, the palms of my hands scraping against the jagged glass on the floor. Heavy breathing surrounded me and I could feel panic bubbling from within, but I wouldn't let this break me. Sure, let Walkers eat me alive, but I wouldn't let other survivors bring me down.

"Hey!" Rick yelled. "We all know this is not gonna end well! There's nothing in it for any of us! You guys just… Just back off, no one else gets hurt!"

Stairs were creaking under the pressure of the footsteps. I saw Glenn dart to the other side of the room from the corner of my eye. Rick spoke briefly to Hershel and the older man started to crawl across towards the young boy. I skid the rifle I had along the floor to Hershel and then pulled out my pistol, checking the clip before peeking over the window sill. They hadn't left.

"Glenn is going to try for the car," Rick muttered to me. "Go with them. Help Hershel cover Glenn. I'll meet you back there when I can."

I nodded and followed in Hershel's footsteps, creeping quietly behind the two other men. We walked out of the door and into the back room, down the wooden steps. The back door was ajar and Glenn took it as the chance to scope the area outside to see if any of the men or Walkers were grouped out there, waiting for us. With the noise that had been made, I would be surprised if Walkers weren't making their way over.

There was no time to hesitate. Hershel and I stood outside, aiming our guns and scoping the area as Glenn moved quickly towards the car. I jumped at more gunshots and Glenn let out a loud grunt, thudding to the floor behind the dumpster. Hershel turned and knocked down the offender with one shot.

"I didn't know you had such a good aim," I mumbled.

The old man smiled gravely at me before turning to Glenn. Rick rushed out the door behind us, stopping when he saw Glenn's legs sprawled out on the floor.

"What happened?"

"He fired," Hershel explained. "He must've hit Glenn. He's behind the dumpster. Doesn't look like he's moving."

We aimed up again and Rick took off running towards Glenn. The car was within such a short walking distance, and we all knew that it would be a shame if we didn't manage to make it there without any casualties.

I could see Walkers starting to approach. I took one down as it made its way towards Rick and Glenn, but then decided to lower my gun. If the men heard our shots anymore, they would be bound to track us down and find us.

"Let's get out of here!" I heard one of the men yell, alongside the sounds of tires squealing. "Roamers all over the place! Hurry up! We gotta get out of here!"

"What about Sean?"

"They shot him. We gotta go. Roamers are everywhere."

"We're leaving?"

"Jump! Hurry up, jump already!"

A bloodcurdling scream met my ears and I spun around in shock, looking in the direction of the pained noises. I moved down the alleyway that we were cooped up in, sliding along the wall and looking out onto the main roads. One of the men had jumped from the roof and landed on top of the dumpster. I couldn't see the source of his pain from where I was standing, but I could feel his pain through his screams.

"Dude didn't make it," The men's conversation picked up again.

"Help me!" The injured boy yelled. "Help… Help me!"

"I've gotta go. I'm sorry!"

"No, don't leave! Help me! No! No! Help!"

When Glenn was retrieved, we made our way out onto the roads again. The car full of men had pulled away. The only trace they left behind was the wailing boy. Guilty expressions settled on all of our faces, and I knew that none of us could handle the sounds of pain he was making.

As we got closer, I could see how young he really was. His dark hair stuck to his forehead with sweat and his face was scrunched up in pain. His eyes opened at the sound of approach and I swear I saw a flicker of hope pass through his eyes.

"I'm sorry, son," Hershel sighed. "We have to go."

"No, don't leave me please," The boy quickly shook his head.

"We have to go," Glenn warned. "He was shooting at us!"

"He's just a kid," I reminded him softly.

"Please help me."

Walkers were gaining on us by the second. Glenn looked upset as we all dawdled around the young boy, trying to decide what to do. His leg was rammed through the bar of an iron fence. As Hershel and Rick discussed the best method to get him out, I lifted myself over to the other side of the fence where he was resting on the dumpster. His eyes flickered to me nervously.

"You need to stay quiet," I told him quietly. "We can't have you drawing more attention to us, okay? Just stay quiet and we can help you out."

"The hatchet still in the car?" Hershel asked solemnly.

Glenn nodded and hurried off to get the weapon that Hershel desired.

"Don't cut my leg off, please," The boy groaned. "Please, not my leg."

"I'll have to sever the ligaments below the kneecap, cut above the tibia," Hershel ignored his protests. "He's going to lose his lower leg."

"No, don't. No."

"When we get clear of here, we're gonna have to find some tinder, cauterize the wound so he doesn't bleed out."

All of us were in agreement. Without any hesitation, Hershel took to attempting to saw the leg. Walkers were surrounding us in large heaps. I raised my gun and shot down a few, but I knew that I didn't have enough ammo to take out this many, especially in the extended time Hershel was taking. Besides, more shots would attract more Walkers, and then we really would be a goner.

"I need more hands!" Hershel yelled. "Easy, easy…"

"No, don't don't don't cut my leg off please!"

We were taking too much time. I lowered my gun, almost clean of ammo. Hershel pulled back. Even though the boy had been complaining about losing a leg, he pleaded for him to continue so that he wouldn't be left behind to a bloody death. I hitched myself back over the fence and looked at him in sympathy. If it was me in that position, I would hate to be left alone for dead.

Rick moved forward. With a loud scream, the boy's leg was yanked clean from the bar. Apparently there had only been one way around the situation to begin with.

The car pulled back up on the farm. The boy had been sat in the back between Glenn and I, a sack covering his face so that he didn't learn of our location. Heck, as if he would have, he passed out the second his eyes landed on his own blood.

When the engine stopped, we all clambered out of the car. Benny made his way over to me, holding out his arms. I stepped into them for a hug, glancing at Daryl over his shoulder. The other man looked away, but my gaze remained settled on him.

"Are you alright?" Benny asked, pulling back and blocking my view.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I shrugged.

"I can't believe you went out and you didn't even tell me about it. Jeez Annie, you could have died out there. You were gone forever. We were all starting to think the worst."

"Maybe you should start looking on the positive side… You shouldn't ever put a label on your life."

Benny narrowed his eyes suspiciously at me but reluctantly nodded his head in agreement. As Hershel instructed Patricia to prepare the shed for surgery, I could see Daryl making his way over towards the car.

"Who the hell is that?" He demanded when he saw the boy in the car.

"That's Randall," Rick explained. "We couldn't just leave him behind. He would've bled out, if he lived that long. It's gotten bad in town."

"I repaired his calf muscle the best I can, but he'll probably have nerve damage," The wise Hershel said. "Won't be on his feet for at least a week."

"When he is, we give him a canteen, take him out to the main road, send him on his way."

"Isn't that the same as leaving him for the Walkers?" Andrea frowned.

"He'll have a fighting chance."

It didn't take long for Shane to pick up an argument with Rick about the whole situation. I don't know why I acted surprised about it anymore. I was exhausted from the long trip, so I decided to call it a night and depart from the group, heading back towards my tent on our makeshift campsite.

At first, I tried to sleep, but I knew that it was an impossible task at hand. Thoughts swam relentlessly round my mind, and they constantly drifted back to Daryl. I would have to talk to him at some point, even though he probably didn't want to. In the end, I pushed myself up from my sleeping back, resting my head in my hands.

It was silent outside, and I knew that everyone else had probably drifted off by now. I slipped out of my tent and wrapped my hoodie tighter around my body. Dale was on top of the RV as I passed. He glanced down at me and I smiled back up at him.

"You're up a bit late, Annie," He said.

"I couldn't sleep," I shrugged. "I'm just going on a walk around the farm. I should be back soon, so don't worry about me."

"Oh, I'm not. I'm pretty sure that you proved that you could handle yourself today out in town. If you're looking for Daryl, he's set up a camp out in the fields that way."

He pointed and I raised my eyebrows. How had he known that I wanted to find Daryl to attempt to make peace with the man? Dale smirked down at me.

"Your brother confides in me," He said. "He told me about your little argument with him. Don't you worry, I haven't said anything… But if you wanted to talk to him, I was just pushing you in the right direction."

"Thanks, Dale," I nodded and took off.

My boots swished through the long grass of the fields as I trekked out towards him. I could see where his tent was stationed and I could also see that there was still a soft flicker of a campfire set up where he was. It was a stupid thought, but I wondered if he had been kept awake this night with invasive thoughts of our communication malfunction.

As I neared him, butterflies fluttered in my stomach. I was nervous. I was nervous to approach this closed off man who I had shunned so easily and quickly from my life. But when that life had flashed before my eyes, I had realised how stupid and reckless I had been. I wouldn't be able to survive if I had no bonds with anyone else. I wouldn't be able to live a normal life without relationships. In a weird and almost ridiculous sense, I needed Daryl. I needed him like I needed food and water to survive. He was another part of my survival.

Daryl was sat in the dirt in front of the lowly built campfire, picking away at an animal between his grubby fingers. He didn't look up or say anything as I approached him, sitting across from him in complete silence with my arms folded tightly across my chest. I wanted him to look at me, but I couldn't blame him for not doing so.

"I'm sorry," I barely whispered. "I didn't mean to."

"I don't know why you're apologising," His tone was off with me. "I didn't mean to neither. It was a mistake. Don't fret your boots about it. It didn't mean nothin' to me, and it shouldn't to you."

I felt myself recoil slightly at his sharp words. He then looked up, meeting my gaze. His eyes were steely and cold and I could almost feel his anger radiating off of him. I sighed and lowered my face to the ground.

"You don't put up much of a fight," He said, surprising me.

"What?" I raised my eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

"Ya come all the way over here with the intention of talking to me and the second I shoot you down, you decide to ditch. Why'd you do that?"

"I don't understand how you expect me to talk to you if you don't want to hear it. I don't blame you either… I hate myself too after all of that."

"I don't hate ya. I never will. It was an honest mistake."

"So, is that you forgiving me or something? Because, to be truthful, I don't know what to do in this kind of situation. I can't put up a fight to win back your friendship because I don't know how to, if that's what you want."

Daryl sighed and dropped the animal that he was skinning. I rested my hands in my lap and glanced up hopefully at him. A very small smile lingered on his expression and my face broke out into a grin.

"Thank you, Daryl," I beamed. "I truly am sorry, I really am. If there's anything I can do to make it up to you, let me know. Thank you."

He just nodded. I got up to my knees and crawled towards him, throwing my arms tightly around his neck and leaning my head against his. He froze for a moment, but eventually patted the small of my back awkwardly as I clung onto his frame. We stayed still like that for a moment, our breathing the only thing that could be heard.

"By the way," I pulled back, my arms remaining around him. "I know that you think you may have made a mistake earlier, but I don't think that you did. I just wanted you to know that. I don't think it was a mistake."

I pulled away, pushing myself to my feet and turning on my heel, leaving Daryl sat there with a slightly shocked expression on his face.


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

I glanced over at Andrea who was stationed outside the shed that Randall was cooped up in. He was highly unlikely to be a threat, even with all Hershel had done to fix him up, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes as she positioned the gun menacingly between her hands.

While Rick and Shane were planning on driving him 18 miles out to ditch him in the world, there were other things that needed doing around camp. Lori had asked me to head on into the house this morning and sit with Beth for a while whilst she was busy up at out campsite with Carol. I jogged lightly up the steps of the farmhouse and pushed my way into the room that Beth was staying in. She was laid on the bed, her blonde hair spread out around her like a halo on the pillow. Her eyes were trained on the ceiling, and she didn't bother to look over at me as I entered.

"I don't know why your people are so insistent on being here," She said bitterly. "It's not as if I'm going to suddenly go overboard, is it? You can leave."

"I can," I sat down on the chair beside the bed. "But I won't. You know, I understand how hard it is. You're not the only person to have lost someone. We've all been through it. Some of us worse than others, sure, but we've all experienced it whether it was in this new world or our previous lives."

"Losing your mother is a different matter."

"You're right… I lost mine at the beginning of all this, too."

Beth glanced over to me with a slightly guilty expression on her face. She finally heaved herself up in the bed, resting her hands in her lap and looking over to me.

"Did a Walker get her?" She asked quietly.

"No," I shook my head. "I kind of wish she'd gone that way rather than the way she did… She committed suicide. We couldn't have done anything to prevent it."

"I'm so sorry to hear that… I didn't know."

"I didn't think it was necessary to dump that burden on everyone. I'll never move on, but I've accepted that I can't go back. Suicide doesn't take the pain away, you know… It just gives it to someone else."

The young girl stared at me and I looked back at her for a few moments. She needn't say anything, but I knew that was what she had been considering. The life had drained from her eyes, and there really wasn't any other explanation to her situation.

I glanced up as the door creaked open and Lori walked in with a tray of food. She set it on the bedside table. As Lori raised her eyebrows knowingly at me, I nodded and pushed myself to my feet.

"You eat up all your food, we'll get you up and out of here and go take a walk," Lori suggested. "What do you say? It'll do good to be outside."

"You're pregnant," Beth stared accusingly at the woman. "How could you do that?"

"Uh, I don't really have a choice… You eat something."

Lori looked at me very awkwardly and I just shrugged my shoulders. I smiled very briefly at Beth before leaving the room and walking down the corridor towards the kitchen. Lori was following behind me. She looked slightly angered and confused.

"What the heck was all that about?" She asked as she trailed behind.

"I dunno," I mumbled. "She's just hurting, I guess. I wouldn't put all the blame on her… When she gets through this, it'll all be okay. I can't think of her having anything against you just because you're pregnant."

"Do you?"

"Do I what?"

"Do you have anything against me because I'm pregnant?"

I paused and entered the kitchen, leaning against a counter and crossing my arms across my chest. Lori faced opposite me, perching on the edge of the dining table. There was a hollow silence before I spoke up.

"No, I don't have anything against you," I told her. "Sure, I don't think it's the wisest idea in these circumstances, but I know that you have a chance to make things right for that little baby."

"I hope so," Lori sighed. "Do you really think that I can raise a child in this world?"

"I think you can do anything if you put your mind to it. Besides… You'll have all of us to help you through this. You won't have to do any of this alone."

She smiled at me and reached forward, rubbing my shoulder affectionately. I returned it before bidding her goodbye and rushing down the steps of the farmhouse. Andrea was making her way in the opposite direction. She looked at me with resentment as we passed and I returned her sour glare.

Benny had taken a place on top of the RV. I waved up at him as I passed. He probably knew where I was going. Dale had spoken to him this morning about where I'd gone last night, and he had smirked at me all during breakfast. Even when we were on the run for our lives, my brother found the time to mock me about a boy.

As I'd expected, Daryl was out in his little campsite in the middle of the fields. He glanced up as I approached. I stood above him when I reached were he was kneeled, my hands shoved into my back pockets as I watched him work on whittling wood. Well, I wouldn't quite call it whittling… The spears didn't look too friendly.

"Why did you move all the way out here?" I asked, looking around at the isolated field that Daryl had opted for.

"To get away from all you people," He replied bluntly. "You all do my head in when I'm back there. I couldn't bear it, especially not after Sophia."

I smiled softly at Daryl as I took a seat beside him. He just scoffed slightly. I knew that he probably didn't want me loitering around, but the camp was amazingly peaceful today, and I actually had a chance to come and talk to him unlike some of the more hectic days where I was often being run off my feet.

"Don't tell me that this was your best offer of the day," He raised his eyebrows at me.

"I thought you'd be just the slightest bit happy to see me," I rolled my eyes. "I thought that me showing up here would make your day. Hasn't it?"

"That's not quite what I'd call it."

I nudged him playfully and he just smiled. The sun was high in the sky and its backdrop was a brilliant blue. There was nothing I didn't like about days like this back in the day, when I'd been able to relax in the heat and do nothing but lap up the sun. Now, I wasn't too fond of the burning sun. Even in our minimal amounts of clothes, we managed to sweat right through all the material.

"I don't think we've ever had a year this hot," I mused.

"We ain't," Daryl agreed. "And it's just typical that we do have it now."

"Didn't you like the sun before all of this? I loved it. There used to be so much to do on days like this… Benny and I used to have the best of times when we were kids."

"Nah, my brother and I ain't really anything like you and your brother. You wouldn't have caught him frolicking about in the sunshine, I can tell you that."

"Huh… I always wanted a summer wedding. I always went on about it. I said that when I got married, I would have to wait until a perfect summer's day to get married, or it just wouldn't be my dream wedding… Benny was going to have a summer wedding, too."

"Your brother was engaged?"

"He… It ended before all of this went down. I don't really know what happened. I didn't even really know much about it until recent."

Daryl just nodded as I looked into the distance, my elbows resting on my knees as I hugged them to my chest. Although Benny didn't say anything, I knew that he was still hurting. My brother had been in love with the girl he had devoted his life to. They had been together since high school, always seen as the perfect couple. He'd met her in his sophomore year when she was a freshman, and they started dating when he was a senior and she a junior. Then, they were practically engaged out of school. Everyone thought they were perfect for each other.

"Were you in any relationships before?" I asked curiously.

"No," Daryl said bluntly. "Merle and I didn't do relationships. He brought home plenty of cooze on one night stands, but they never lasted. I just didn't bother, I guess."

"I always saw you as the hopeless romantic type, Daryl, you surprise me…"

"Huh. Funny. What about you?"

"No… No, I had boyfriends, but nothing ever serious. Nobody ever really bothered with me. I was always shy and meek, and I didn't have many friends. I mean, what's appealing about a girl who blends into the background, right?"

He glanced up at me and looked into my eyes with newfound knowledge. I blushed and glanced away, picking at the dirt under my fingernails. My eyes lingered on the farm in the distance, and I knew that Rick and Shane would probably be coming back now. They couldn't possibly have taken this long to get 18 miles out, unless something had gone wrong, which wouldn't surprise me with our group's luck.

"I'm going hunting," Daryl announced, standing up and shouldering his crossbow.

"Nice save," I stood up and brushed off my jeans. "I bet you were wondering how you could get rid of me that whole time, huh?"

Daryl smirked at me and shook his head, turning and heading off into the woods nearby. I went in the over direction, kicking my way through the dirt towards the farm.

When I reached the house, I hadn't expected so much chaos to be brewing.

"Don't you dare step food inside this house again!" I heard Maggie yell at Andrea.

The farmer's daughter slammed the house door shut and Andrea turned to talk to Lori, who was also standing on the porch. What a surprise… Andrea had annoyed someone else too. As Lori turned to enter the house, I walked up the steps. Andrea paused when she saw me.

"If you're thinking the worst, you're wrong," She rolled her eyes at me.

I opened the door to the farmhouse and slipped inside. Lori was hunched over a counter in the kitchen, massaging her forehead.

"What happened?" I asked quietly as I crept into the room.

"Beth tried to commit suicide," Lori explained, causing my face to drop. "She slit her wrist. I left Andrea in charge of her while I was gone… She just upped and left her to it. No wonder the girl felt the need to do it… She was abandoned."

"Is she alright now, though?"

"She'll be fine. Hershel's tending to her as we speak. I just don't know why Andrea did it. Can't she see that it's just common courtesy?"

"Everyone makes mistakes, Lori. Maybe she really regrets it…"

"It doesn't sound like it."

I didn't know why I had jumped to Andrea's defence, but I soon backed down when Lori said that. She rested a hand on her ever so slightly swollen stomach and I glanced down. There wasn't much point in me hanging around to say anymore. I couldn't do anything about the matter… I wasn't the person to go to for help in these situations.

"I hope you sort everything out with her," I told the older woman.

She nodded at me and I departed the farmhouse. It seemed that there really was no use for me while I was hanging around here. Wherever I went, it seemed that I wasn't needed. I wanted to show everyone that I could pull my weight around too, but there really was nothing that I could do here on the farm.

It was true bliss here. It was quiet and calm and we didn't run into any problems, unlike we had been doing when we'd been out on the roads. However, at the same time, it was dull. We'd done so much since the beginning of our group and now all of us seemed to be lagging behind in our lives as we couldn't find anything to do. There were no jobs to go to; there were no people to see. At the same time as loving the peace, I resented all the time it gave me to think. Because when I thought, I had the chance to mull over all the previous horrors we faced, and I didn't want to do that.


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

Daryl had decided that he would be the one to interrogate Randall. Rick and Shane had surprised us yesterday by bringing him all the way back to the farm again. I hadn't originally agreed with the idea of him being dragged out to be left as Walker bait, but there was nothing I could do about it. Now, that he was back, only more chaos seemed to rise between our camp members.

I waited anxiously for Daryl's return, perched on the hood of the blue Ford truck. Benny approached me with an apple in either hand. He took a bite into one and held out the other to me as a peace offering. I took it from him and wiped it roughly on my shirt before biting into the fruit.

"I passed by the shed earlier," He informed me.

"Yeah?" I asked curiously.

"I'm sure he means no harm, but it sounds like Daryl is giving that lad quite a packing. Well, actually… I'm sure he intentionally means all the harm."

"He needs to get something out of him one way or another. Rick said that he knew Maggie and Hershel, so he was bound to find his way back here."

"I guess."

Benny leant against the car and looked over towards the shed. The rest of the group eventually gathered round as Daryl emerged, heading in our direction. He had a grim expression on his face and I didn't really want to know what had happened.

"Boy there's got a gang, 30 men," He announced. "They have heavy artillery and they ain't looking to make friends. They roll through here, our boys are dead. And our women, they're gonna – they're gonna wish they were."

I bowed my head at his sinister tone. It wasn't hard to understand what Daryl meant by those words, but it was still hard to believe that that could be the truth. While fighting off the Walkers, we'd forgotten that humans were no better.

"No one goes near this guy," Rick was quick to lay down the law.

"Rick, what are you gonna do?"

"We have no choice. He's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat."

Dale looked shocked at his words. I didn't want to hear them, but I didn't say anything against Rick. He was our loyal leader, and what he said went. Besides, he was often right about what needed to be done.

Rick trudged off and Dale quickly followed behind him. I turned to look at Daryl, noticing the blood crusting on his knuckles. He raised an eyebrow when he caught his gaze and I just shook my head. Soon, everyone departed their separate ways, and I was left alone with him.

"Looks like you packed in heavy," I said sarcastically.

"Didn't have much of a choice," Daryl grunted.

"I guess not… So, what do you think? About killing Randall? I mean… it's a little drastic, wouldn't you say?"

"It's not drastic when you think about protecting the group."

I sighed and nodded in agreement. Daryl grabbed his things and left and I was alone with my thoughts once again. I decided on heading on over to the shed to check on Randall. No, I wasn't on his side entirely, but we couldn't have him dying on us in the shed due to dehydration or something.

As I peaked through the cracks in the mouldy wood, I could see the bloodied and beaten boy curled up on the floor. Guilt bubbled in my stomach and I looked away. It would have been kinder for us to leave him for the Walkers. It was a more humane way to die, when you thought about the options that we were currently facing.

A tap on my shoulder caused me to jump and spin around quickly, my hand flying to my pistol. Andrea stood there with her eyebrows raised. I let out a sigh of relief.

"What are you doing over here?" I asked, furrowing my eyebrows.

"Dale's asked me to stay on watch," She shrugged. "He's going round and trying to convince everyone that it's right to free him. Waste of time, if you ask me… What are you doing here?"

"I just came to see if he needed anything… It would be cruel to let him go thirsty, wouldn't it?"

Although Andrea and I never saw eye to eye, she nodded reluctantly. Shuffling came from inside the shed and I could hear the dragging of heavy boots along the floor.

"Hello?" Randall called out from within. "Hello? I'm… I'm real sorry about all of this. I never meant to cause your people harm… Could you… Could you help me out? I won't be a bother, I swear."

I glanced over at Andrea awkwardly and she just shrugged her shoulders. Shane was making his way over. He ignored me and went straight to Andrea. I rolled my eyes, not forgetting the night he threatened me. Instead of hanging around, I walked away from the shed, passing Carl on the way. He tilted his father's sheriff hat at me and I paused to smile down at him.

"How's the prisoner doing?" He asked.

"I'm not sure," My smile dropped. "I didn't realise you knew so much about what had happened. Your dad tell you, huh?"

"Yeah, my dad tells me everything. Shane won't let me see the prisoner."

He looked genuinely disappointed, and I looked down at him in alarm. He wanted to see a man blindfolded and bloodied, tied up in shackles? He was just a kid. I looked over at Shane, still talking to Andrea, and mentally blamed him for all of this. He always made it seem like everyone here was doing the right thing, and all the things that we went ahead with were acceptable. Most of the time, they weren't.

"I don't blame him," I paused. "You see, he's not in the best shape, Carl. I'm not sure your dad would be too impressed if you went running off in search of him."

"He's never around to be impressed or not with me anyway," The young boy mumbled, causing my heart to break just a little bit.

"That's not true, Carl, your dad loves you very much."

"No. He loves being in charge."

There was nothing I could say to assure the prepubescent teen. He turned on his heel and headed off to the shed, walking round back. I decided to turn a blind eye and ignore it. The kid would only resent me if I went to his parents and told them. Anyway, he was a smart boy, and I doubted that any harm would be done.

As I headed back into the camp, I could see Dale approaching me from the RV. He had clearly just been speaking with Benny, and I could see my brother sat pondering with his head in his hands. I met Dale halfway. His fisher hat was in his hands and he was wringing it out in a nervous fashion.

"What's up, Dale?" I asked, glancing over his shoulder at my brother.

"I just wanted to talk to you about the Randall situation," He said. "You think you could spare a few minutes to hear me out?"

"Oh, yeah… Sure, go for it. I'm all ears."

"Annie, please don't tell me that you agree with Rick and the others… I just can't understand why everyone here is so onboard this heartless murder. Can't you see what it's doing to us? It's breaking us apart. It's breaking our group apart, Annie."

"I can see that, Dale. Trust me, I'm on your side in all of this, but I can't change the minds of Rick and the others. Neither can you. One person against everyone else isn't going to change anything Dale, I'm sorry. I wish I could help."

"But you agree with me, don't you?"

"Yes… Yes, I do think you're right on this one. Doesn't anyone else?"

"Well, Glenn and Andrea maybe, but nobody else. So, Rick said we'll all have a grouping tonight before the decision… Will you stand with me if it comes to it?"

"If it comes to it Dale, you can rest assured that I'll have your back. I don't want it to lead to any arguments, but I don't want innocent blood on my hands."

Dale thanked me, patting me on the back. He then moved out to find Daryl. I scoffed under my breath. If he thought he could sway Daryl on the situation, he must have been delirious. No matter what, the youngest Dixon would stay true to Rick and the majority of the group. Anyway, why should he care about one meaningless person in his life dying? Heck, why should I care? Randall meant nothing to me.

I hoisted myself on top of the RV to talk to my brother. We watched in the distance as Shane dragged Carl out of the shed. I sighed. Perhaps it would have been better to say something to avoid anymore arguing, but it just hadn't been my place to step in.

"Did Dale convince you at all?" I asked.

"I get where he's coming from," Benny nodded. "I really do. But at the end of the day, I'm going to stay true to the others and stick with them. It's the right thing to do."

"Is it, though? Is it right for you to just go against your feelings and murder a young boy just because you don't want to speak up? I don't think it is."

"Well, it sounds like he pushed your mind overboard then."

"I'm going to stand by him, Benny. He's a good man. He means no harm. Anyway, he's often right about things that go on around here… I would hate to leave him stranded at a time like this."

Benny just nodded. I couldn't help but feel peeved that my brother was siding against Dale. Our family had been raised on the basis of morals and doing the right thing and this was clearly the wrong thing at hand. This whole life had changed him, and I wasn't sure if it was for the better.

"So how do we do this? Just take a vote?"

We all crowded around the living room of the farmhouse. Some sat and some stood. I leant against a crockery dresser, my arms folded and my ankles crossed. It was an awkward, tense atmosphere and I felt instantly uncomfortable just by walking into this room. Daryl stood not far behind me. I turned and met his eye but instantly looked away. He had chosen to stray from Dale. Although it wasn't his fault, I did feel slightly annoyed.

"Let's just see where everybody stands, then we can talk through the options," Rick suggested. "Well, where I sit, there's only one way to move forward."

"Killing him, right?" Dale spoke up bitterly. "I mean, why even bother to take a vote? It's clear which way the wind's blowing."

"Well, if people believe we should spare him, I wanna know."

"Well, I can tell you it's a small group – me, Glenn and Annie."

Glenn looked up guiltily. I heard a slight sound of disbelief behind me and I turned to see Daryl staring straight at me. Was he surprised that I had opted to stick my thumb out for Dale? I just shook my head at the redneck and turned away.

"I think you're pretty much right about everything, all the time, but this…" Glenn shrugged.

"They've got you scared," Dale accused.

"He's not one of us. And we've – we've lost too many people already."

I ran a hand tiredly over my face. Rick glanced over at me and raised his eyebrows. Dale also bore his eyes into me, most likely praying that I wouldn't back down at the last minute like Glenn had so rottenly done.

"I'm behind Dale on this one," I breathed out, seeing Shane glare at me. "I know that it's maybe not the most practical option, but it's the right option. I'm not spilling blood out of spite. Yes, he shot at us, but he was doing what he could to survive. Wouldn't we have all done that if we were in his situation? I don't think it's right that we should just kill him because we don't want the hassle."

Daryl stepped forward, placing a rough hand on my shoulder to try and silence me. The rest of the conversation carried on as I tried to shake free. I could hear the others talking, but Daryl was trying to get my attention before I said anymore.

"Hey," He scolded lightly. "Hey, hey! Look at me! I ain't saying you're wrong, but think about it… Don't get on the wrong side of anyone."

"I have the right to an opinion, you know," I hissed back at him, pulling away.

"Look, say we let him join us, right?" Shane was talking. "Maybe he's helpful, maybe he's nice. We let our guard down and maybe he runs off, brings back his 30 men."

"So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime that he may never even attempt?" Dale spoke urgently. "If we do this, we're saying there's no hope."

"Could you drive him further out? Leave him like you planned/"

"You barely came back last time," Lori quickly shot down the idea. "There are Walkers. You could break down. You could get lost of ambushed."

"If you go through with it, how would you do it? Would he suffer?"

"We could hang him, right?" Shane suggested. "Just snap his neck."

"I thought about that," Rick sighed. "Shooting may be more humane."

"And what about the body?"

"Hold on, hold on! You're talking about this like it's already decided."

I glanced at Dale in pity. There was literally nothing else I could do on the matter. Even if I spoke up, they would just shoot me back down again. Heck, Daryl would probably tackle me to the floor and cover my mouth before I could put my foot in it again.

"This is a young man's life," Dale continued. "And it's worth more than a five minute conversation! Is that what it's come to? We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with him? You saved him and now look at us. He's been tortured. He's gonna be executed. How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?"

"No, Dale is right," Andrea stepped in.

"We can't leave any stone upturned here. We have a responsibility… We haven't come up with a single viable option yet. I wish we could."

"Stop it!" Carol yelled suddenly. "Just stop it! I'm sick and tired of everybody arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this. You can't ask us to decide something like this. Please decide – either of you, both of you… but leave me out."

"Not speaking out or killing him yourself – there's no difference," Dale said, slightly overstepping the line.

"All right, that's enough."

The loud voices swam around my head and the opinions swarmed in my ears. A sour expression took place upon my face and I glared bitterly at the floor, hoping that this would all be over and done with soon so that we could leave and never bring it up again. I mean, we all knew that this fate had been decided from the start. Randall would be killed, and none of us could do anything to stop it.

"Anybody who wants to take the floor before we make a final decision has the chance," Rick said with authority.

"You once said that we don't kill the living," Dale bargained his last chance. "Well, that was before the living tried to kill us. But don't you see? If we do this, the people that we were – the world we knew is dead. And this new world is ugly. It's… harsh. It's – it's survival of the fittest. And that's a world I don't wanna live in, and I don't – and I don't believe that any of you do. Please. Let's just do what's right. Isn't there anybody else who's gonna stand with me?"

"I'm with Dale on this one," I nodded and pushed myself off of the cabinet. "Whatever call you make, Dale is 100% right in my eyes."

"He's right," Andrea agreed. "We should try to find another way."

"Anybody else?" Dale glanced around. "Are y'all gonna watch, too? No, you'll go hide your heads in your tents and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being. Well, I won't be a party to it."

Dale spun on his heel, walking out. Just as he passed Daryl, he stopped. He then spoke very clearly and my heart crushed.

"This group is broken."

After Dale had left, there wasn't much of a debate. An awkward silence ensued before Shane, Rick and Daryl went off to fulfil the dreaded deed. I met Andrea's eye very briefly and just shrugged at her woeful eyes. Maybe we didn't do enough to help Dale, but it seemed that there couldn't have been anything else left for us to do anyway. The battle was already lost.

I left the farmhouse too, glaring slightly at the three men's backs as they made their way over to the shed where Randall was being kept. Footsteps crunched through the grass and dead leaves behind me and I turned my head to see Benny following me.

"Aren't you going to go and help them bump him off?" I asked my brother sourly.

"Don't be pissed," He groaned. "Yeah, maybe I didn't stick up for Dale like I should have done, but I didn't say anything against him."

"That's your problem, Ben. You're always stuck on the fence."

My brother sighed and nodded in agreement. We looked towards the shed to see Carl making his way over there. The young boy was too involved in everything for his own good, and I had a horrible feeling that he would be growing up too fast in all the wrong ways.

"I'll catch him up," Benny said.

I watched as my brother jogged across towards the younger boy, always a few feet behind him. In that moment, Carl was ten steps ahead, and it happened to be ten steps ahead too far. He slipped into the shed and Benny stopped.

Benny was fond of the young boy and I often noted Carl lingering around my brother or Shane, looking up to them like an older brother or even a father figure. I knew that Benny was stuck in a dilemma now, as he would have to face witnessing Randall's death or getting scolded by Rick for allowing his son to roam free. I cursed to myself when I saw my brother enter the shed.

"It's not right," Andrea's voice cut through my thoughts.

"No, it's not…" I shook my head. "But what can we do about it? The vote was way over our heads. Where's Dale now anyway?"

"I don't know. He's probably in the RV trying to collect himself. Oh, and Annie?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry about everything recently. I know that we don't always see eye to eye and everything, but I never meant to come across as a bitch… which I did."

"Huh… you were a bit of a bitch."

Andrea cracked a smile and I did too. We both sighed as our eyes met with the exterior of the shed. I turned to face the older woman again.

"I'm sorry too," I told her. "There was no need for us to not get along through all of this. Let's just start fresh now, okay?"

"That sounds like a plan," Andrea grinned.

We nodded at each other before Andrea took off to our campsite. I waited around for my brother, chewing on a hangnail and pacing lazily through the overgrown grass. My lip started to bleed as I grazed my teeth against the soft skin. I cussed under my breath and reached up, roughly wiping away the steely blood.

It seemed like forever until everyone finally departed from the shed. Benny made his way over to me, his hands shoved deep in his pockets. I was expecting his expression to be slightly gloomy, but he almost looked pleased.

"He's being kept in custody," He announced when he was close enough.

"What?" I said in disbelief. "Really?"

"Yep, really… Rick couldn't go through with it. When he knew that Carl was watching, he stopped. Heck, that kid needs a talking to… He was trying to encourage his dad to do it."

"Well, it wouldn't surprise me. This world isn't doing the best with raising him. That aside, that's great news! Oh, Dale will be chuffed…"

It was almost as if I had spoken too soon. Screams filled my ears and I could see people running from the campsite in shock. Benny glanced at me and we both took off running into the fields where the screams were coming from. I reached into the waistband of my jeans and pulled out the pistol that was tucked away safely, steadying it in my hands as we moved quickly through the fields, our guns raised.

Footsteps of others surrounded us, and I could make out faint silhouettes of the others as they moved towards the direction of the screaming. It was too dark to see much and I found myself falling over my feet as I tried to keep an eye on the whole area.

"Dale!" Andrea's voice pierced my ears and my mind flickered to the worse. "Help! Over here!"

We followed the direction of Andrea's voice and soon enough, the majority of the group was standing in the field, looking at Dale's body. He was sprawled out on the ground, his insides completely ripped open. A Walker was lying not far off. I stared in shock at Dale, not knowing how to react. He was still alive; his eyes wide and panicked as they flitted around the group. A strangled noise escaped Benny and I looked over to him in sorrow. Dale had been like a mentor to my brother and I knew that this was breaking him up. Hell, Dale had been a mentor to everyone. He had shown us all the right and wrong ways in this life.

"Oh, my God… Oh, God…"

"Okay, hold on now," Rick crouched beside him and Andrea. "Get Hershel! Hang on, Dale… Hang on. Listen to me. Just listen to my voice."

Words of sympathy, mainly from Rick, carried through the night to Dale. I could see everyone looking at our group's elder in desperation. If we lost him, we lost our humanity. I looked away from his bloodied state, my eyes glazing over. First Sophia and now Dale. Our group was truly falling to pieces.

"What happened?" Hershel asked as he ran towards us, slightly out of breath.

"Dale, it's gonna be okay…" Rick stood up and took authority. "Can we move him?"

"He won't make the trip."

"You have to do the operation here. Glenn, get back to the house."

"Rick."

Hershel's determined voice set Rick at a standstill. None of us wanted to believe it, but we all knew that it was true. Dale's insides were practically hanging out of his withered body. There was no way that we could move forward from this. He was going to die, whether we liked it or not.

"He's suffering," Andrea sobbed. "Do something!"

Rick looked around desperately for another solution, but he could come up with nothing. I remembered the time that Dale had welcomed Benny and I to the group when we had been by the rock quarry. If it wasn't for him and his voice of reason, we probably wouldn't have even been here today. Dale had saved us. In some way, he had saved everyone.

I stepped back and rested my hand on Benny's shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. He looked down at me and nodded through the tears in his eyes. Rick raised his gun, but his hand shook and quivered and he could not manage it. With Dale staring down the barrel with shock and confusion, I wouldn't have been able to either. Andrea's sobs filled the empty fields and everyone else remained in a deafening silence, grave faces blending in with the dark night.

Daryl stepped forward and eased the gun from Rick's hand. He nodded at his friend and knelt down beside Dale, aiming the gun straight in his face. I looked down and I could feel Benny's body shaking beneath my hand.

"I'm sorry, brother."

A gun shot rang out into the night.

**A/N: I hope everyone had a really lovely Christmas! What did you guys get? Any TWD merchandise? My mum did... I brought her a Daryl Dixon cardboard cut out as he's her favourite character haha:) We have a lot in common it seems! I hope everyone continues to have a really great holiday. Thanks for reading my fanfic! And thanks very much for reviewing and favouriting. **


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

I bowed my head as we stood around Dale's makeshift grave, beside Sophia's, Shawn's and Annette's. Hershel and his family had also joined us, and I could see their eyes flickering to each of us solemnly as we stared at the mound of soil, tears pricking at our dry eyes.

"Dale could – could get under your skin," Rick said into the quiet day. "He sure got under mine, because he wasn't afraid to say exactly what he thought, how he felt. That kind of honesty is rare and brave. Whenever I'd make a decision, I'd look at Dale. He'd be looking back at me with that look he had. We've all seen it one time or another. I couldn't always read him, but he could read us. He saw people for who they were. He knew things about us – the truth… who we really are. In the end, he was talking about losing our humanity. He said this group was broken. The best way to honour him is to unbreak it. Set aside out differences and pull together, stop feeling sorry for ourselves and take control of our lives… our safety… our future. We're not broken. We're gonna prove him wrong. From now on… We're gonna do it his way. That is how we honour Dale."

After the small funeral, we all went back to our campsite. Hershel had made the decision that it would be best to move us all into the farmhouse for our safety. Plans were being made to secure the farm, and everyone was on board and working together in harmony like we should have been doing from the beginning.

While Benny dumped our things in the lounge indoors where most of us would be staying, I helped with moving the vehicles to stand outside each door and face out toward the road. Daryl had given me the keys to his pickup truck willingly when I'd asked. I sat in the cab, twisting the keys in the ignition. The engine thundered and the car quivered to life. I backed it up along the dirt path, positioning it where T-Dogg directed me to go. He held his hand out when I was in far enough. He approached the front of the truck, leaning his bandaged arm on the door and looking out over the road. I followed his gaze to the deserted area.

"Dale would have liked this," I commented.

"Yeah," T-Dogg nodded with a small smile. "He would have."

T-Dogg went back to keeping an eye over everything going on outside and I clambered out of the cab of the vehicle, hitching up my ripped jeans and making my way over to the farmhouse. Daryl was passing in the over direction. He reached out and caught my arm with his hand, pulling me to a standstill. I glanced over my shoulder at him.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Me and Rick are gonna head out, cut Randall loose," He explained. "Better him off site than near our people."

"You're gonna help him out? Well, good luck with Shane… I can already hear an uproar brewing from that man."

"Yeah, you ain't the only one. Keep an eye on him while I'm gone."

"Mm, if he hasn't already got an eye trained on me."

Daryl nodded and cleared his throat gruffly before departing. I could see Rick and Shane talking to each other, and I already knew it was about Daryl. The more time we spent together as a group, the more Shane was rocking. He was tumbling downhill at an unstoppable speed and he was scaring everyone within the group. He'd gone from being a martyr to a psycho. It would be hard sleeping under the same roof as him. In a way, I feared him more than Walkers. I knew how to handle Walkers, but I didn't know how to handle Shane blowing his top.

I hopped up the stairs leading onto the porch and entered the farmhouse. The lounge was crammed full with our possessions and it seemed busy with everyone mulling around, climbing over furniture and dodging around each other. Benny was sat on one of the couches, his head buried in his hands. I hadn't expected him to take Dale's death so hard, but it was evident how he was feeling.

Glenn dumped his stuff in the corner of the room, Maggie turning on her heel awkwardly and leaving. I knew that Glenn was making it difficult for her to get close to him. He also retreated from duties and dumped himself down on one of the couches. Dale's death had really taken a toll on everyone. Even if it wasn't for that direct reason, it dampened the mood in every aspect. I rubbed a hand roughly over my face trying to wake myself up a bit. If I wanted to get anything done today, I would have to be on red alert. The horrors of this place weren't over yet. The farmhouse was turning into the Horror House, so it seemed.

"Hey," I let my hand fall on Benny's shoulder. "Why don't you and Glenn go out and see if you can get Dale's RV up and running? We'll need to move it round to face the front of the house. If anyone can do it, it'll be you two."

"I doubt it," Glenn scoffed from his corner; Benny just looked up at me glumly.

"Hey, I won't be having any of that. Dale showed you the ropes of that thing, Glenn. I know you can pull it together. Benny, you know mechanics like the back of your hand. Why don't you both just go out there and have a look?"

They sighed unwillingly but both heaved themselves up and lumbered out the door. T-Dogg came in and out, dropping off all of our things. I arranged them into separate areas of the lounge so it would at least feel like there was some organisation. He informed me that Hershel was taking the couch, so I crept quietly into Hershel's room with the intentions of grabbing a throw or something from his bed to place it on the couch downstairs.

I placed Lori's bags in Hershel's room as I entered. She would be taking the bed in here, along with Rick and Carl. My fingers ran along the top of the dresser at the end of the bed and I smiled at the photo situated on the surface. It must have been Hershel and Annette when they were younger. His wife had been a very beautiful woman. I could see where Maggie and Beth got their looks from.

A woven throw sat at the end of the bed, folded. I picked it up and carried it downstairs; tucking it into the couch that Hershel would be spending his nights on. In all honesty, I had no idea how this set up was going to work, but I was willing to try it. Rick had given a motivational speech about Dale, and I knew that he would have wanted us to all coincide in this way.

When I departed from the house and Patricia's cooking, I could see Shane balanced on top of the windmill in the fields in the distance. He had taken to securing it as one of the lookout areas on his lonesome. At least he wouldn't be causing any trouble while he was up there. I could see Lori heading over in that direction and I groaned to myself. Didn't that woman know when to give it a rest?

Daryl and Rick were discussing their plans as Carol packed up some provisions for Randall to have. It would at least be enough to ensure him a week on his own without any hard labour. I joined Carol at the hood of the car she was leaning against, helping her pack in the things that she had picked out from our collection.

"How long do you think he'll last out on the road?" She asked.

"Randall?" I glanced over at her. "I wouldn't be able to tell you. He's young, so probably longer than most."

"I would hate for a young boy to go and die on our accord."

"Yeah, I would too… But, it's not like we'll have anything to do with him. After he's gone, that'll be it. We won't be seeing him again. Maybe that's the best way. We keep to ourselves and others do the same. Heck, it's the only way that this is gonna work."

Carol nodded in agreement. I looked over to the RV to see Glenn and Benny working on it with concentrated looks on their faces as Andrea stood by. They all laughed, most likely reminiscing over something Dale had said about the RV before. That vehicle had been his baby the whole way through all of this. In fact, it had been one of the things that had kept us strong.

I finished up with helping Carol and made my way over to Daryl, who was now on his own again. He glanced up at me as I approached him, my arms crossed awkwardly across my chest. I smiled grimly at him and he looked back down, fidgeting with his crossbow in his hands.

"You're going to be staying in the farmhouse, right?" I checked with him.

"Guess so," He replied with a shrug. "I ain't got anywhere better to go."

"You say it as if you don't want to spend time with us… We surely can't be that bad, as far as survival groups go, huh?"

Daryl smirked slightly and shot me a look. I laughed, pulling myself up onto the wooden banister that surrounded the porch and resting on it lightly, my legs swinging of their own accord. Daryl remained leaning up against the wooden frame.

"I kind of wonder if he hated me in his last moments," I said quietly, picking at the white paint job.

"Dale?" Daryl turned and looked at me accusingly. "Why would you say that?"

"I just… I didn't help him enough during the decision. I should have said more. He wanted me to, I know it. Maybe if I'd said something else, I could have persuaded Rick to think differently, but I didn't. He probably resented me for that."

"You shouldn't think like that. He ain't never resented you. You stuck up for him. That was enough."

"But was it? I can't help but think that I could have done more."

I sighed and Daryl just shrugged, looking away awkwardly. I restrained myself from spilling anymore to him, because I knew it made him feel awkward. Although Daryl would listen, he would hate to be burdened with any female's emotions. It was part of his character.

In the distance, the RV started up. The engine roared to life and cheering floated out from inside the vehicle. I grinned in relief, lifting my hand in a wave as my brother shot me a thumbs up from the window. The RV trudged through the mud, spinning around to park in front of the house as T-Dogg loyally directed it once again.

When Rick was finally ready to go, preparations started. They loaded up the pickup truck that I had previously parked earlier on that day. Daryl had had to take Dale's rifle as his gun had gone missing. I rolled my eyes at his carelessness over something so important. The last thing you would want roaming around freely would be a weapon, no matter what kind.

"Annie," Benny jogged up behind me as I was sat on the porch, overlooking the others and cleaning out the guns we had left. "Have you seen Shane anywhere?"

"Come to think of it, I haven't," I furrowed my eyebrows. "He was talking to Rick earlier… Then, he disappeared off. He's probably back at the windmill again."

"No, that's the thing. He isn't. I just went round there to check to see if he needed another hand, but it's empty back there. Anyway, the job's pretty much finished."

"Buggar… He must have pranced off when I was helping Carol. Jesus Christ, Ben… I have no idea where he would have gone. I'll check inside the house, you check around the grounds okay?"

"You know, maybe we shouldn't assume that he's doing anything…"

"He's probably not, but it's better safe than sorry, huh? I don't want him wandering around with a face like thunder."

Benny tore off to search outside and I pushed my way into the house, my boots slapping against the stairs. I searched strategically from top to bottom of the house, poking my head into every room and checking behind every little nook and cranny that he could have got himself into. It was irrational, but I was worried. Shane had been on a rampage these past few days.

I met up with my brother outside again. He raised his hands, shaking his head. I groaned to myself and slapped a hand against my forehead.

"He can't have gone far," My brother assured me. "All the vehicles are here, so he'll be in walking distance. I've asked Andrea if she saw him, but she hasn't."

"God, this is my fault," I grit my teeth. "I was supposed to be keeping an eye on him and now look what's happened! I've only gone and let him run off."

A commotion came from over at the shed. We left the porch and moved across the grass in a light jog towards the others.

My mouth dropped open as T-Dogg explained to me that Randall had escaped.

"The cuffs are still hooked."

"He must' slipped 'em," Daryl said, crouching down on the floor where he had been chained up.

"Is that possible?" Andrea asked.

"It is if you've got nothing to lose."

"The door was secured from the outside," T-Dogg shook his head in disbelief.

We traced around the area. Panic stricken faces lined me and I could even feel myself growing nervous. The boy had never been a threat through all of this, but he would be if he was out and about on this land. Maybe he had just run away… Maybe it would be best if we let him just escape.

"Shane isn't here either," Benny spoke up. "Annie and I have searched the whole perimeter for him. The house and everything. He's nowhere to be found."

A few people had suspicious looks in their eyes. Most of us had grown to not trust Shane over the previous days, and I knew that most people were probably spawning an idea in their heads about the situation. As we stood aimlessly outside the shed, Shane emerged from the lining of trees nearby.

"Rick!" He called.

"What happened?" His friend called over as he approached.

"He's armed! He's got my gun!"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Little bastard just snuck up on me. He clocked me in the face."

Blood dripped from Shane's nose. He had smeared it into his already dirty skin. I paused, staring at his face. I was definitely hesitant to believe his story.

"Why were you out in the woods?" I asked sourly.

"I was on patrol," Shane shot me a warning look. "Just like we'd all planned. Then he just came running out of nowhere."

"All right…" Rick spoke up. "Hershel, T-Dogg, get everybody back in the house. Glenn, Daryl, come with us."

"T-, I'm gonna need that gun," Shane stepped forward just as I stepped back.

"Just let him go," Carol said with haste. "That was the plan, wasn't it, to just let him go?"

"The plan was to cut him loose far away from here, not on our front step with a gun."

"Don't go out there. Y'all know what can happen."

"Get everybody back in the house. Lock all the doors and stay put!"

Hershel and T-Dogg rounded us all up, ushering us back towards the farmhouse. I stole a look at Daryl over my shoulder as I followed behind the rest of them. He nodded at me with a knowing look. I think that deep down; all of our suspicions were growing. The last thing I saw before entering he house was Shane's bloody face and his bloodlust eyes.


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

Lori kept peeking out of the window between the curtains with a worried look on her face. I sat on one of the couches, my elbows resting on my thighs. There was nothing we could do about the matter right now. Benny lingered at the doorway, the bag of weapons open at his feet and a pistol poised in his hands. Hershel would have usually said no to such things, but I think all of us felt a bit more comfortable knowing that we could easily be armed to protect ourselves.

My mind kept flickering back to the look on Shane's face when he had come running from the woods. It had been hard to describe in my head, but I knew what it was. Shane was no stranger to losing his temper, but it seemed like this one had completely tipped him over the edge. I wondered if Lori was more worried for him or for Rick.

"You shouldn't stress yourself out," Carol rested a hand on Lori's shoulder. "It's not good for you… or for…"

She nodded down at Lori's stomach as if she didn't want to say anything. Lori nodded, her hand falling to caress her ever so slightly swollen stomach. I let out a huff. It was hard to sit around and wait without knowing what was happening. We all sat in the lounge, pacing or tapping our feet and fingers in anticipation.

I pushed myself to my feet, moving over towards my brother stationed at the door. He was chewing his lip nervously.

"I think I should go and find them," He mumbled to me as I got closer.

"No, you shouldn't," I shook my head. "If anything happens back here, we won't be able to handle ourselves on our own. You're needed here more."

"Do you think that they got him?"

"That… or someone else got them."

Benny raised his eyebrows and I nodded at his suspicious look. The door opened and Daryl and Glenn came back in. Everyone jumped to their feet, moving forward to hear what they had to say. They both looked at us all slightly awkwardly, their weapons resting in their grimy hands still.

"Rick and Shane ain't back?" Daryl narrowed his eyes.

"No," Lori shook her head. "We heard a shot."

"Maybe they found Randall. They probably had to shoot him down," I offered, trying to ease Lori's mind.

"We found him," Daryl looked around.

"Is he back in the shed?"

"He's a Walker."

"Did you find the Walker that bit him?"

"No, the weird thing is he wasn't bit. His neck was broke."

There was a silence around the group. How was it possible to become a Walker without being bit or scratched? The last thing we needed was something else to endanger our group. We hadn't even got to spend our first night in Hershel's home.

I ran a hand through my already dishevelled hair, meeting Daryl's eye. He shrugged at me and I smiled sadly. This world was proving to be more difficult as the days went on. It was becoming almost unbearable.

"The thing is, Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other," Daryl explained what he had seen in the forest. "And Shane ain't no tracker, so he didn't come up behind him. They were together."

"Would you please get back out there, find Rick and Shane and find out what on earth is going on?" Lori pleaded him.

"You got it."

"Thank you."

Daryl walked out the front door. Without saying anything to anyone, I silently departed after him. As he was loading up his crossbow on the porch, I walked up behind him and waited for him to finish. He glanced up at me as he worked.

"I don't think Walkers are the things holding Rick off," I told him bluntly.

"Yeah, I hear ya," Daryl said. "I saw that look on Shane's face too. I ain't no stranger to that one."

"Just… Be careful, okay?"

His eyes bored into mine for a few moments. Solemnly, he nodded. We looked out over into the fields as we stood on the porch. At the sound of a building noise, the others came out onto the porch and looked across the grounds too. Benny lifted the rifle he was holding, peering through the scope.

However, we didn't need a scope to tell what it was. A herd of Walkers were making their way from the woods and through the fields towards the farmhouse. I gaped at the sight of the immense crowd of staggering corpses.

"Patricia, kill the lights," Hershel called out.

"Maybe they're just passing, like the herd on the highway. Should we just go inside?" Carol suggested.

"Not unless there's a tunnel downstairs I don't know about. A herd that size would rip the house down."

Patricia nodded and ran back inside the house. Guns were handed out among us. I rushed inside and grabbed my backpack, swinging it onto my back and backing out of the house again. Lori ran back outside, a panicked expression on her face.

"Carl's gone," She gasped out.

"What?" Carol looked at her quickly.

"He… he was upstairs. I can't find him anymore."

"Maybe he's hiding."

"He's supposed to be upstairs. I'm not leaving without my boy."

"We're gonna look again. We're gonna find him."

I passed a gun to Carol as she moved past me and into the house with Lori. She nodded at me briefly before she disappeared. The dense night suffocating us made the situation seem even scarier.

Suggestions were being thrown about. It was decided that we would kill as many as we could and use the cars to lead the rest of them off the farm. Hershel lingered behind outside the house with his gun. I rushed down towards the pickup truck along with Andrea and T-Dogg. They climbed into the cab and I hitched myself up into the bed of the truck, propping myself up against the window and checking that my rifle and pistol were all loaded. Benny was getting into the RV with Jimmy to head over to the barn, which was flickering with orange flames. I very briefly noticed Daryl climbing onto his motorcycle, but I didn't have enough time to acknowledge him.

T-Dogg revved the engine of the car and pulled forward. Glenn and Maggie had taken the other car. I knew that it was dangerous sitting in the bed, but we all agreed that I needed to be somewhere where I could aim and shoot freely without having to drive too slowly, which would end up with us all getting taken down by Walkers.

"Yo!" T-Dogg pointed over to the farm; I was grateful I could still hear them. "Must've been Rick or Shane who started that fire. Maybe they're trying to get out back!"

"Why don't you circle round? Go!"

The car swerved, gripping into the dry soil as it spun on its wheels. Walkers were coming from all directions. I leant the rifle on my propped up knee, taking aim and shooting down a couple of Walkers who had been gaining on the vehicle. The others were in shooting range, but I didn't want to take down many yet when we could end up in a stickier situation later on, which would be likely.

"Where the hell are they going?" Andrea yelled as she watched Glenn and Maggie's vehicle turn around up ahead.

"Should I follow them?" T-Dogg asked.

"I'd say yes… Swing it around. Swing it around here. Whoa, whoa!"

I jolted in the bed of the truck. Up ahead, I could see Hershel leaving his post. Screams came from their direction, and I feared the worst, but I had no time to think on the situation.

"Annie?" T-Dogg yelled out to me. "How are you holding up?"

"Fine…" I called back. "I'm fine!"

Glenn had hitched himself up through the passenger window, positioning his rifle on the roof of the car and shooting down Walkers that way. Andrea followed suit. I moved forward to the tailgate of the truck to get a better shooting distance. I took down about four more Walkers before seeing Glenn and Maggie's car pulling away in the other direction, exiting the farm.

"They're leaving… they're leaving!" I yelled out to the others.

We ignored their departure and continued shooting. T-Dogg pulled the car back round, heading over where we could see Carol running from Walkers. Andrea jumped out of the car, rushing forward to help her. T-Dogg slammed forward, and I could feel myself slipping in the truck.

"Hang on, T!" I yelled. "What about Andrea?"

"The others are up there," He called back. "We need to just keep going."

As the car lingered, Walkers were gaining on us. I cursed, shooting more fervently as they reached the truck. One of the corpses reached out and latched its fingers round my wrist. I lifted the gun in my hands, smashing it on the head with the butt of the rifle. It took a few hits to break through the skull. The brown, gooey blood spilled out onto me and the stench was clear. I groaned, but the Walker finally released its grip from me and fell away, dead on the floor.

"We're going!"

I allowed T-Dogg to pull away, hoping that the others had made it out of the farm. As we pulled out of the farm and onto the dirt road, I watched the barn burn down.

In the end, we decided on heading out to the highway. And it was the best bet we had. I had moved up to the front of the cab, and was sitting beside T-Dogg as he drove groggily down the packed up road. A smile lit my face when I saw a majority of the others had made it back here. My eyes quickly scanned the area for my brother, and I sighed in relief when I spotted him leant up against the hood of one of the cars. I also found myself grinning when I saw Daryl.

T-Dogg and I clambered out of the car. My brother looked up and spotted me, rushing forward to embrace me in a quick hug. He looked pretty unscathed. I, on the other hand, was covered in rotten Walker blood. My clothes were sticking to me in the sweltering heat and I felt disgusting.

"God, I thought you hadn't made it for a second," Benny said in a shaky voice.

"We tried to stay back as long as we could," I replied. "We tried to take down more… But it was overrun, we had to leave. How did you make it out?"

"I… Jimmy died in the process. We were in the RV… We went to the barn and we helped get Rick and Carl out. But, Walkers got to the RV. I managed to get out through the window but Jimmy got stuck behind. I felt terrible."

"I'm sorry you had to see that… but, don't. It's not your fault."

He nodded to me and we both moved to stand with the rest of the gathered group, all greeting each other in pure bliss and happiness. I smiled when Daryl caught my eye and he nodded at me.

"Where'd you find everyone?" Rick asked Daryl, who had only just pulled up with Carol on his motorcycle behind T-Dogg and I.

"Well, those guys' tail lights zigzagging all over the road…" Daryl glanced at Glenn with a small smile. "Figured he had to be Asian, driving like that."

"Good one."

"Where's the rest of us?" Rick glanced around at us all.

There was me, Benny, him, Hershel, Carl, Glenn, Maggie, Daryl, Carol, Lori, Beth and T-Dogg. It seemed that we were the only ones who had got back here… or the only ones who were alive. I had expected to see Andrea with Carol.

"Shane? Andrea?" Rick asked.

"She saved me, then I lost her," Carol told him meekly. "We saw her go down."

I grimaced, glancing down. Maybe it had been my fault that I hadn't jumped out and pursued her. She had been all on her own out there. No wonder she hadn't been able to make it through.

"Patricia?"

"They got her, too," Beth was quiet. "Took her right in front of me. I was… I wad holdin' onto her, daddy. She just… what about Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?"

"He was in the RV with me," Benny said grimly. "I'm sorry."

"It got overrun," Rick supplied. "You definitely saw Andrea?"

"There were Walkers everywhere."

"Did you see her?"

"I'm gonna go back," Daryl sighed, getting ready to load up his bike.

Although I didn't want Daryl to go back and risk his life all over again, I agreed with him. There was a chance that she could still be out there. It would only be right to go back there and save her. There would be nothing worse than leaving her behind for dead. That would be on my conscience for the rest of my life.

"No," Rick said firmly.

"We can't just leave her," Daryl argued. "We don't even know if she's there."

"She isn't there. She isn't. She's somewhere else or she's dead. There's no way to find her."

"So we're not even gonna look for her?"

"We gotta keep moving. There have been Walkers crawling all over here."

"I say head east. Stay off the main roads. The bigger the road, the more Walkers, more assholes like this one. I got him."

Daryl lifted his crossbow and took down the stray Walker that was stumbling over the wreck on the highway towards us. It felt weird standing in the place that we had once inhabited. There were only bad memories that came with this place, but it still made me think back to simpler times. Times when we had actually had a fighting chance.

We all separated off into cars again. Benny went over to the pickup truck and as I was about to follow after him and T-Dogg, Daryl reached out and caught my arm. I turned to look at him curiously.

"You okay?" He checked with me.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I sighed. "Real peachy."

He looked me in the eye, trying to detect any traces of a lie. If he did, he just ignored it. With one last nod, he walked away and hitched his leg over his motorcycle. Benny called out to me and I walked back over to him, sliding into the cab of the truck first, with him shifting in after me.

We drove down the roads in silence, all of us staring ahead at the empty passages. We were driving for what seemed like forever before the car up ahead flashed us. Our vehicle slowed and we all clambered out of the cars to regroup once more.

"What's wrong?" Benny called out as we walked up to the car ahead.

"We've been riding red for the past hour," Rick explained.

There was a noise of agreement. All of us had been hitting the pedal pretty hard today, and most of us didn't have enough fuel to carry us more than ten minutes down the road.

"We can't stay here," Maggie said.

"We can't all fit in one car," Rick contradicted. "We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning."

"Spend the night here? I'm freezing."

"We'll build a fire, yeah? You go out looking for firewood, stay close."

The idea to set up camp here in the cold wasn't appealing at all, but it was the only option we had at this moment in time. Everyone was in a state of panic. We didn't have enough fuel and upon checking, it seemed like we didn't have enough ammo to last us much longer either. I collapsed on the floor, leaning up against the tire of the pickup truck and listening to the others as they fretted over our situation.

"Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick," Hershel spoke over the top of everyone and we all instantly settled at the sound of his soothing voice.

"All right, we'll set up a perimeter," Rick said. "In the morning, we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on."

"Glenn and I can go make a run now, try and scrounge up some gas," Maggie suggested on her and Glenn's behalf.

"No, we stay together. God forbid something happens and people get stranded without a car."

"Rick, we're stranded now."

"I know it looks bad, we've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other. I wasn't sure… I really wasn't… but we did. We're together. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere. There's gotta be a place."

"Rick, look around. Okay? There's Walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something."

"There's gotta be a place not just where we hole up, but that we fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together, build a life for each other. I know it's out there. We just have to find it."

"Even if we do find a place and we think it's safe, we can never be sure. For how long? Look what happened with the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that was safe."

"We won't make that mistake again. We'll make camp tonight over here, get on the road at the break of day."

I glanced over at the ditches at the side of the road. What was probably once a wall of some sort was now a heap of crumbling stone. Half of the wall still remained in its structure. Even though everyone was arguing, I knew Rick was right. This would be enough. For one night, at least.

"What if Walkers come through, or another group like Randall's?"

"You know I found Randall, right?" Daryl spoke up, gaining all our attention. "He had turned, but he wasn't bit. How's that possible? Rick, what the hell happened?"

"Shane killed Randall…" Rick answered; we all fell into silence. "Just like he always wanted to. And then the herd got hit. We're all infected."

"What?"

"At the C.D.C, Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it."

"And you never said anything?"

"Would it have made a difference?"

"You knew this whole time?"

The arguments picked up again. I sat in surprise, mulling over the fact that eventually… eventually, I would turn into one of these things. Even if I made it to the rip old age of eighty seven, I'd still turn into one of these things when I passed away. There had always been a slight worry that I could possibly die of a different reason other than a bite. But now there was an even bigger worry that I might come back and kill someone whom I dearly loved.


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

The winter crashed down upon us. We had been on the road for five months now since we had left the farm to be taken over by Walkers. Since then, it had been constantly moving from house to house for cover and moving the second any danger came about. It was becoming ridiculously tiring, but we all followed Rick's orders. He had snapped at us a long time ago, that night when we had all escaped. 'This isn't a democracy anymore'.

Nobody had dared to question him again, and we followed his every word. So far, it had kept us safe and alive and for that I was grateful. As the days went on, Lori was showing more and it was harder to keep moving. It couldn't be healthy for her to keep moving around so much, and I knew that Hershel agreed, but he didn't dare say anything that would upset Rick about the matter.

I sat in the current dismal house we were occupying, trying to get a fire lit in the grate. The wood we were using was soggy and it wasn't enough to start a fire. I groaned, falling back on my heels and rubbing my hands together to create some friction for warmth. Maggie dumped some more twigs down beside me on the dusty floor.

"Not working, huh?" She asked, her voice tired and groggy.

It was night now. This morning, we'd been in a completely different residence, but we'd been chased out by Walkers and hadn't stopped until now. It seemed that ever since the incident on the farm, we were too scared to encounter Walkers. I didn't really understand our sudden change in group dynamics.

"I'm going to go and find Daryl," I stood up in the cramped lounge. "He has his lighter on him. It should hopefully be enough to get something going."

Maggie nodded in agreement and I left, stepping over all of our bags that we had dumped on the floor. Our vehicles were all parked up aside, facing the road and ready to go as soon as Rick gave the command. It was a rough lifestyle, but it was all we could do to survive right now.

Soon, we'd have to find permanent shelter. We couldn't be moving around. Not anymore, not now that the snow was settling on the ground. I wrapped my thin flannel shirt tightly around my body, moving quickly to try and get some warmth coursing through my numb body.

Daryl was sat outside on the porch of the house, examining his crossbow and the bolts that he still had left. He would have to make some more soon. He'd already lost one today by not having enough time to go back for the Walker that had been blocking our pathway to the cars. I sat down on the step beside him, hugging my knees to my chest. He glanced over at me very briefly.

"You cold?" He asked, nodding at my frail figure.

He went to unwind his poncho from his body, but I quickly lifted my hand to stop him. I would be fine as I was. Daryl raised his eyebrows slightly but nodded.

"Could I borrow your lighter?" I asked him.

"If ya can't get a fire started with your bare hands, I doubt a lighter will do it," He sighed. "The wood's wet."

"I know that… I can't even get a spark. It's hopeless. We can't go all night without having something there. Someone's gonna freeze to death before we know it."

"Nah, we'll be fine. Here."

Daryl reached into his trouser pocket and pulled out his lighter, tossing it to me. My frozen fingers fumbled to grip the cool metal. He laughed very lightly under his breath at my clumsy movements.

"Thanks," I breathed out. "Are you gonna come inside anytime soon?"

"I ain't got nothing waiting for me in there," He shrugged. "I'll be in when I'm finished with this heap of shit."

"Benny might be able to help you. If it's broken, that is."

My brother had been our go-to man with anything that needed fixing now that Dale wasn't here with his toolbox. Daryl nodded and I stood up, hurrying up the steps through the light dusting of snow and back into the house.

Maggie was still sat in front of the grate of the fireplace, rolling twigs between her hands. She looked up and I held out the lighter. I chucked it to her and she flipped it open and held it to the wood, the small flame flickering against the damp material. It took a few more minutes of infuriating attempts, but we finally managed to get a small spark going among the stack of thin, dwindling twigs.

"Thank God," I fell back against the wall in exhaustion. "And it only took a couple of hours."

"It's a new record," Maggie grinned. "Better than last night."

"Oh, yeah… We were there for half of the day."

The pair of us sunk onto the cold floor, resting our heads against the wall. As the nights were getting darker earlier, our exhaustion for the day also came to us quicker. It was unfortunate but unstoppable. Especially as we were on the run so much each day. It was a new house every night as of more recent times. The longest time we had stayed in a house these past five months was four nights. And in reality, that was not a long time at all. It definitely wasn't long enough.

"Have you seen Glenn?" Maggie asked as we sat peacefully on our own, our eyes closed as we rested.

"Upstairs, last time I checked," I told her. "He, Rick and T-Dogg were clearing out the rooms up there. I almost got an axe to the head when I went up there looking for anything to throw in the fire."

"Everyone's nerves are getting the best of them. I'm gonna go find Glenn, okay?"

"Alright. Thanks for helping."

She nodded and stood up. I went back to the fire, throwing in pieces of ripped and crumpled newspaper and magazines that I had collected around the house to increase the flickering flames. It was silent in the house. I could only hear the creaking of footsteps on floorboards up ahead as Maggie climbed the stairs and as the others crept around in search of stray Walkers.

Lori and Carol had taken to the kitchen to try and find something edible to dish up. We'd collected small amounts over time, but not enough to feed our large group. Carl had been trying his hand at hunting recently, and I knew that he was currently out in the small area of woods just a way from the house with Benny. They were trying to shoot down any wild animals they could find, but I knew they weren't successful so far. Even with their silencers attached to the guns, there had been no noise to signal that anything had been caught. It seemed they would be coming back empty handed.

I tore another sheet of newspaper in half, screwing up the halves and chucking them into the pit. The flame had built to a reasonable height and although it wasn't much, slight warmth had taken over. I sighed in relief and held my hands out in front of the fire, my palms relishing in the sensation.

Footsteps trudged into the room and I glanced up to see Beth. She had become a lot more independent recently in the group, and her father had even shown her a few tricks of the trade so she could feel useful in the group if it was needed, as she had said. I smiled at her as she sat down beside me by the fire.

"I thought we'd never get anything like this again," She stated.

"I know," I said. "I didn't think we would either. You keep watch over this for me, okay? I'm just going to go and check up on the others. I shouldn't be long."

The young girl nodded in agreement. Hershel passed me in the doorway and we smiled at each other in acknowledgement before I tore out of the house. I intended to go and bring Benny and Carl back. We had made a deal within the group to not be out past a certain time – and as we didn't keep track of time, that meant when it was dark. Daryl had disappeared from outside, so I assumed he was in the house now.

I trekked over towards the edge of the woods. A few stumbling Walkers were in the neighbourhood that we had occupied, but none that were an immediate threat. I still kept my gun handy though, just in case I needed it.

The woods were empty as I crunched through fallen leaves and ducked under hanging branches. I'd expected Carl and Benny to be closer to the woodland trail, but it seemed that they had veered and gone off into the surrounding dense trees. It was reckless, but probably more ideal for hunting. They probably should have left the hunting to Daryl. My brother and Carl were no experts in the situation.

"Benny? Carl?" I called out in a light voice as I stepped off the trail and pushed my way through the clumps of leaves that blocked my path.

The sky was dark and under the shade of the trees, the dark was suffocating. I waited for my eyes to adjust to the shadows before I carried on. It would have been stupid to allow a light to illuminate the whole forest, but I hadn't brought one anyway. I assured myself that there was nothing out here that I couldn't handle before carrying on. Over the past five months, I had killed more Walkers than I could count. Benny and I had helped the others clean out the houses we entered many times before we deemed them as safe for the rest of the group – the more vulnerable members, so to say. Though, none of us were weak anymore. We could all shoot and we could all kill. All of us were brought into this world with the satisfactory skills. We could handle our own, and that was what mattered.

I moved my hands out in front of me, my palms grazing against the rough bark of the trees as I felt my way through. Knowing my luck, Benny and Carl had probably already departed back to the house and I was just wandering out here on my own on a wild goose chase. I listened carefully to my own footsteps, trying not to mistake them for any other noise that I might hear out here in the dark.

The further I went, the further I was probably moving from the boys. I cursed under my breath and groaned when I realised that these trees were just like a maze and now that I was too far in, there was no way out. There was no sound nearby to signal that Benny and Carl were out here, and I knew that I had made a mistake coming to find them on my own. It would have been much wiser to have dragged Beth along with me to give her something to do, and to also give me back up. A lack of common sense did not bode well with these circumstances.

I took one step further forward before I heard it. A low series of moans and groans. It obviously wasn't Benny and Carl, and it was too quiet to be multiple Walkers, so I knew that I could take whatever was in front of me. The staggering steps moved in my direction and I raised my gun, my hand steadying as I pointed it in front of me. I would have to wait until I got a clear shot of the Walker in front of me.

The Walker turned around a corner of trees and I could vaguely make out its shadow. My finger rested on the trigger, ready to pull. Suddenly, something whirred past in the air beside me and the Walker fell to the ground in silence, something sticking out from its head. I dropped my gun, spinning quickly on my heel and jumping when I saw that the person was standing very close to me.

"That gun would have been too loud," Daryl smirked.

"God," I let out the breath I had been holding in relief. "Jesus, Daryl! You scared me rotten. I thought you were a bandit or something. Give me a sign or something next time, yeah? I'd hate to shoot you instead."

"Huh. Maybe you should take some tips off of me on stealth… I heard you coming a mile off."

"Shut up. It's not my fault that we're not all trackers."

Daryl smiled smugly and stepped around me, reaching down and yanking his arrow out of the Walker's head. I could barely make out his figure in the dark, but I felt a lot safer now that he was here. If I needed anyone for help, I would have always picked Daryl. He was the most reliable out of the bunch.

"What are you doing out here?" I asked as he turned back and walked to me.

"Hunting," He said gruffly. "Your brother and the kid ain't got the skill to take down anything. I actually want to eat something decent tonight."

"Did you catch anything?"

"A couple o' squirrels. Nothing much. Enough, though."

"Well, look at you… Aren't you a hotshot? Talking about the hunters, have you seen Benny and Carl? I just came out to call them in but I haven't bumped into them."

"That's because you're going the wrong way. I saw them a way back. Told 'em to go back inside. They ain't stupid."

"I never said they were."

He snorted and I rolled my eyes, glad that he couldn't see me. He would have probably ditched me in the middle of the woods if he'd seen me do that. I felt something touch the small of my back and I cringed away.

"That was me," Daryl scoffed. "Don't want you getting lost again."

I didn't say anything and his hand retreated back to my body. The warmth of his skin through my shirt made goosebumps rise on my skin, but I remained in silence as Daryl pushed me back in the right direction through the trees. His hand never left my back and I found myself smiling very slightly to myself as I walked in front of him. It was nice to know that he actually didn't want to ditch me for dead.

When we were back on the woodland path, he dropped his hand immediately. I missed the warmth that it brought, but I hurried to keep up with him as he trudged back through the woods and up towards the house. We clambered up the porch and made our way into the lounge where everyone else was sitting around in the minimal warmth. The group seemed slightly happier today. They seemed safer.

"I got squirrels," Daryl held up the catch that he had attached to his trousers. "Knew these two would be capable of shit."

Benny laughed sarcastically at Daryl as he dumped down our dinner for that night. At the idea of food and being in the warmth, the atmosphere seemed to pick up a bit. For a while, it seemed like we were back on the farm again and that we were safe and happy. It was nice, for a change.

**A/N: Hi! So, the next couple of chapters will just be the group while they're on the run. This is in the very first episode of season 3, before they come across the winter. I thought that it would be a nice opportunity to experience some Annie/Daryl bonding time as when they do get to the prison, everything is very busy and hectic. Also, thanks for the reviews and the favourites/follows on this story! It's been very lovely to read the reviews and also some of the suggestions that have been provided. I've taken everything on board, I promise! I'm trying my best to anyway, along with keeping the story the same. Maybe one day I'll write a TWD fanfic with a completely alternate storyline. Who knows? Anyway... Thanks a lot! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Thanks for reading. **


	30. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

Another two months passed, and our constantly changing routine remained solidly the same throughout everything. I had kind of hoped that we would be stable enough by now, but stability was something far out of reach for our group.

I unloaded a couple of bags from the boot of the car, swinging them over my shoulder and heading up to the house that we had picked for the night. We had just finished clearing it out of Walkers and it was inhabitable, at least for the night. It seemed that we didn't even have the intention of making plans that lasted more than a few hours. Perhaps that was our downside. We were always thinking of the worst and what could happen, even if it was highly unlikely that it would.

"I'll take that," Rick took one of the duffel bags from my hands.

He led the way into the house and I followed him, setting the bag that I had down on the floor in the hallway. A thin layer of dust covered everything. This house was dilapidated and must have been out of use since the beginning of all this.

When all the bags had been dumped and left, we moved around the house searching for things that might be useful. Rick, Benny, Daryl, T-Dogg and Carl left to check all the other houses in the neighbourhood while Glenn and Maggie suited up to head out on a run to the nearby town that we had passed so that they could scavenge some things up there.

Only Lori, Carol, Hershel, Beth and I were left in the house and it was unnervingly silent. I moved upstairs, my weight creaking upon the unsteady floorboards. The further up I got, the more a strange smell seemed to hit me. I covered my nose with the sleeve of my jumper and breathed heavily through my mouth. We never removed the corpses when we'd finished with them, and that was probably what the smell was. I peeked into the nearest ajar door, seeing a small bedroom. The covers on the bed were a baby pink and the walls were now a grubby shade of the same colour. I assumed that it had been a little girl's bedroom before all of this had happened.

A photo of a young girl and who I guessed were her parents was set on the edge of a dresser. The glass was shattered in the frame and some of the jagged leftover pieces cut at my fingertips as I picked up the photo. The girl couldn't have been much older than ten. She reminded me of Susie. I ran a hand through my hair and sighed, setting the photo back down and examining the room once more.

The drawers of the dresser proved useless when I shifted through all of them. Most of the clothes had been eaten away at by moths and most of the things in the room had in fact been trashed over time. I sunk down on the lumpy mattress on the bed, facing away from the door and looking out of the window into the spacious garden behind the house. All of a sudden, a hand reached out from under the bed and clasped my ankle. A yelp escaped my mouth and I jumped to my feet, kicking the hand away and drawing my gun. I hesitated to shoot. How had the others not spotted this Walker? I hadn't been in charge of cleaning out upstairs, so I thought it had all been done. But what stopped me was the fact that Walkers did not hide. When I had entered that room, a Walker would have been on top of me instantly.

It surprised me to see the girl from the photo crawling out from underneath the bed. She was grimy and she looked malnourished, her bone structure showing clearly as her flesh clung to her like a blanket. Her eyes were wide and scared as she looked at me. I lowered my gun ever so slightly.

She stayed silent as she straightened herself out. I could hear footsteps crashing up the stairs and I soon saw Hershel and Lori standing in the doorway, staring at us. The girl turned to look at the other two members of my group, fear clear in her eyes. I just shrugged when Lori met my eye. Hershel leant down in front of the girl.

"Are you hurt?" He asked in a soothing down.

"Yes," The girl croaked out. "I got hurt today."

"What hurt you?"

"I don't know."

We all grimaced slightly as the young girl rolled up the sleeve of her jacket. She revealed a bite mark on her arm. It didn't take long for us to figure out what it was. While all the commotion had been going on within our group, a Walker had managed to get her. Maybe it was our fault that she had been scarred this way.

"How long have you had that bite for?" Hershel asked, backing up slightly.

"I don't know," The girl repeated. "It was still light out."

Hershel looked over to us with a pained expression. We had the choice of either amputating her arm or putting her down. Neither of those were a likeable option and even if we tried to amputate, she would most likely die in the process. She was just skin and bones now. There was nothing left of her anyway. We couldn't regain what had already been lost.

"We'll have to wait until Rick gets back," Hershel said as he stood up.

"We can't," I shook my head. "That might be leaving it too late. I'll go and find Rick and the others and see what they want to do. You stay here… Watch her."

Lori nodded in agreement and Hershel sighed, motioning for me to go. I turned on my heel and hurried out of the room, crashing down the stairs and out of the front door. The wind was icy as it blew my hair around the face, but I still tore through the neighbourhood regardless.

It took a few minutes of looping around the houses before I finally saw T-Dogg emerge from one of them. He looked up in surprise when he saw me running towards him, my gun drawn in case any Walkers popped out while I was out here in the dimming light.

"What happened?" He demanded as I reached him. "Who's hurt? Were they bit?"

"No, no," I breathed out. "It's none of our group. We found a little girl in one of the upstairs bedrooms. She's been bit. We don't know whether to amputate or not."

"Rick! Get out here!"

After a few tense seconds, Rick appeared on the porch of the house that they had been searching in, a puzzled look on his face. Carl followed behind him and Daryl and Benny came out of the house next door. I explained the situation to all of them and Rick groaned, throwing his head back in exasperation.

"It's a fresh bite," I said. "Can't have been more than a few hours. But I don't think she'd make it through an amputation. We can't put her through unnecessary pain."

"I'll shoot her myself," Daryl lifted his crossbow. "Can't have no threat."

I glared at him and he shrugged, lowering his weapon ever so slightly. Rick told me to take his place in searching the neighbourhood while he and Carl went back to the house to sort it out. I agreed and we split into two groups again to search houses on each side of the road. T-Dogg and Benny remained where they were and Daryl and I crossed over to the other side of the road.

Daryl pushed open the door of the first house we came across, coughing slightly when a stale stench floated out into the air. I gagged behind him, pulling my t-shirt up to my face to use it as some sort of mask. Heck, who knew? These gases could be deadly.

"Ladies first," He stepped aside.

A small smirk was set on his face. I rolled my eyes sarcastically at him and brushed past, stepping through the doorway and into the house. Daryl passed me a torch and I flicked it on to light up the dank, dark room. The bright light cast eerie shadows across the crumbling walls. I pointed the light into the first doorway and Daryl held a finger to his lips before crashing in, his crossbow raised. I stepped in behind him to see an empty room.

"Wow," I said dryly. "That grand entrance of yours was really necessary, huh?"

"Shut up," He narrowed his eyes at me. "I don't see you doing any of the dirty work. Why don't you check upstairs while I finish up down here?"

"Can't leave you without any light."

"I ain't stupid, I can see. Besides, you just don't want to leave my side. You're scared you ain't gonna have anyone to help you."

"Oh, right, just big yourself up then."

He laughed grimly and I raised my eyebrows at him before pulling away and going to check upstairs. The last time I had gone up a floor in a house, I had found something that I shouldn't have. Daryl was right. I was slightly scared, but I wasn't going to let him know that. He would hold it against me for the rest of my life.

I could hear him clattering through drawers in the kitchen as I shone the torch into the rooms upstairs. Everything was pretty much deserted in this house. When I reached the bathroom, I balanced the torch on the edge of the bath and rummaged through the cabinet above the sink. It was a small jackpot when I managed to find a couple of bottles of painkillers and also a can of deodorant. Even in the apocalypse, smelling fresh was a desired must.

The items were pocketed and I picked up the torch again, moving back out into the corridor. A cord hung down from the ceiling and I looked up, noticing that there was an attic. I tugged at the cord, stepping aside as rickety wooden stairs lowered onto the corridor. It must have made a significant thud as Daryl climbed up the stairs behind me.

"Find anything?" I asked him as I passed him the deodorant and medication, which he shoved in his bag.

"Couple cans of food, not much," He shrugged. "Don't seem to be finding much of anything these days."

I nodded and he pushed around me, moving up the stairs to the attic first. I gave him the benefit of two stairs before I followed, remaining on my tiptoes so that I wouldn't break the weak, rotting wood. Daryl motioned at me to pass him the torch and he shone it up into the attic briefly before hoisting himself up into the top of the house. I coughed as dust flew out around us.

"Did you find any Walkers at all?" I looked around the empty attic suspiciously.

"No, they must've packed their shit and moved straightaway," Daryl said. "Smart of 'em. I stayed around waiting too long when this all went down."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Merle didn't think much of all this shit at first. He said it would blow over. We waited around. Didn't move until it hit our hometown. When our neighbours were clawing up at our doors, we decided we best pack our shit and run."

"Huh… I think I hung around about a month before I moved. Before Benny was with me, I was all on my own. It was dreadful. I had to cross through my whole town. It was the most scared I've been through all of this. No one had my back and I only had the pistol that I own today and it only had a couple of bullets left. The rest were used up before I left."

"Used up? Why, did your family turn?"

As we were rooting through the taped up boxes in the attic, I froze. Daryl glanced up at my silence and I lowered my gaze, sighing slightly. Only Benny and Hershel knew about what had happened with my family when this had all happened.

"Me, my ma and my little sister were all holed up in our attic," I explained. "Ma had always been a bit out of the loop… She went a bit stir crazy up there. She turned the gun on me and my sister and then she shot herself to find a way out. It killed my sister, punctured a lung… but it only got my leg."

"So, that's why you were limping around at camp," Daryl said quietly.

"Yeah. I moved after that. I didn't hang around to see either of them become Walkers, but I grabbed the gun and I moved. My father said that he would hole himself up in his garage on the outskirts of town and would come back when it was safe enough. I made my way out there. He was already a Walker by the time I found him. If Benny hadn't come in time, I would have died… I would have been one of those things."

"I'm real sorry about all that."

I shrugged, picking up a pack of batteries from inside one of the boxes and tossing them in Daryl's direction, where he neatly caught them. We lapsed into silence and finished going through the boxes.

When Daryl had deemed the place turned over, he stepped out of the attic first, lumbering down the steps. I stuck behind him and we pushed the stairs back up again before exiting the house and out into the vaguely existing daylight. T-Dogg and Benny were a couple of houses down, upturning bins and kicking through the rubbish like scavengers. I rolled my eyes at them.

"Did you have to kill anyone in your family?" I picked up with a random question as Daryl and I moved on, walking into the next house.

"A couple," Daryl shrugged. "Nobody who meant much to me. I ain't as sentimental as some people are, I s'pose. Merle was the one who usually did the killing."

"Yeah, my big brother was always the one who handled the guns when we were going about our way."

"Where did you go after… the garage?"

"We originally tried to make it to the C.D.C because Benny had heard about it on a radio station. But we were travelling by foot so that we wouldn't draw too much attention to ourselves, and it was too far off and we knew that the city was going to be populated by Walkers, so we took the long way round. That's when we got chased off the road by Walkers and ended up at the rock quarry."

"I bet you're glad you did, right?"

"God… I don't know where we'd be right now if we hadn't found that place. That was the most uplifting thing that had happened to me in weeks. It was fantastic. I'd never felt safer than I did then. Plus, I wouldn't have met any of you here, however sappy that sounds."

Daryl smiled slightly as we moved into the kitchen, opening cupboards and pulling out everything that resided within and shoving it into Daryl's bag. I opened the panty cupboard and a Walker groaned, lunging forward. It only took me a few seconds to yank my hunting knife out of my pocket and plunge it through the Walker's skull, forcing it to drop to the ground beneath me.

"And I would have never been able to do anything like that with only Benny mentoring me," I laughed. "This would have been way too gross before."

"I ain't sure 'gross' compensates for it," Daryl grinned. "What did you do before all of this, then? You're twenty three… You must've been working."

"I wasn't really settled back then… I did a lot of handy jobs while I was in night school. It would have been easier to just go to college, but I needed to earn money at the same time and we wouldn't have been able to pay off fees. I worked in my pa's garage a lot. Benny was always the firsthand in mechanics, but I know a thing or two. And I used to help out at an old people's home in my town… Used to go down there every day to sit with them and help them out. Didn't earn much, but I loved it."

"What were you studying?"

"History. I was going to be a history lecturer, I was sure of it… Loved history. Maybe that's why I loved the old people's home so much. They used to have so much to tell me because they'd survived so much of our history. I think this will all go down in history one day. In the future, when all of this is over, I'll be teaching it. But I won't need a history book, cause I'll remember everything."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. And I'll tell everyone about our group and what we had to do to survive. And I'll tell everyone about you. I'll talk about the infamous Daryl Dixon. I reckon that when we make it out of here, you'll be hitting the headlines like crazy."

He laughed and I smiled at him. We went back to sifting through cans of dry food, our moods slightly lifted. I passed him a can opener that I found in one of the drawers. It would probably be more beneficial than sawing through the lids with a knife.

"If we get out, I'll tell people about you too," Daryl said, causing me to stop what I was doing to look at him. "I'll tell them about how bloody optimistic you were and how strong you were, even after everything."

"You're talking as if we won't be friends after this," I raised an eyebrow. "I hope that's not what you mean. You can't just ditch me when this is all over, you know."

"I don't plan to."

**A/N: Ah, some Annie/Daryl for you:) Thanks for the reviews/favourites/follows! They're all very much appreciated. It's nice to know that someone is actually reading:) I do listen to everything that you say and try to incorporate it, so thanks! Also, a very happy new year to all of you! I hope that 2014 brings you good health and happiness! Thanks for reading. **


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

The cars halted in the middle of the road and everyone climbed out, scanning the area. It seemed Walker clear so far. Maggie, Hershel, Daryl and T-Dogg were surrounding a map on the hood of one of the cars. I leant against one of the windows, my teeth chattering in the chilly atmosphere.

"We've got no place left to go," T-Dogg said as Rick approached.

"When this herd meets up with his one, we'll be cut off, we'll never make it south," Maggie explained.

"What do you say, it's about 150 head?" Daryl asked.

"That was last week, could be twice that now," Glenn shrugged.

On the map, we had circled certain areas and made notes about where was good to go and where was a dead end. Wherever we had bumped into a significant amount of Walkers, we had put a thick red cross through the place. We could have taken them down, but we always ran. That's all we did now.

"This river could have delayed them," Hershel said. "If we move fast, we might have a shot to tear right through this."

"Yeah, but if this group joins with this one, they could spill out this way."

"So we're blocked."

"Only thing to do is double back at 27th and swing towards Greenville," Rick sighed and there was a murmur of disagreement around the group as we observed the map splayed out in front of us.

"We picked through that already, it's like we spent the winter going in circles."

"Yeah, I know. I know. At Newman we'll push west. Haven't been through the area. We can't keep going house to house. We need to find some place to hold up for a few weeks."

"Alright. Is it cool if we get to the creek before we head out? It won't take long. We gotta fill up on water, we can boil it later."

We split up again and headed back to the cars. Benny went off towards the creek with some of the others to fill up canteens while I lingered back and sifted through all our things, making sure that everything was secure before we started moving again.

Daryl walked up behind me, loading up his crossbow as he came. Over the past eight months, we had become closer. I definitely considered him as one of the people I could trust with my every secret if it came down to it in the group. He wasn't exactly what I'd call soft, but he wasn't as tough and rough as he made out to me most of the time.

"You gonna linger round here?" He asked.

"Yep," I nodded. "Better keep somebody out on the main roads. I don't want to come back to a Walker infested area. You headed out hunting?"

"Yeah, maybe I'll score some badger again."

I laughed and Daryl grinned. The last time he had caught badger, it had been a disaster. We couldn't determine if it was food poisoning or not, but at least a third of us were having to pull over our cars every couple of miles to heave our guts up. It probably wasn't Daryl's catch. More likely to be Carol and Lori's cooking.

Daryl and Rick went off hunting and I remained at the cars. Everything seemed ready for us to go and I was surprised at how organised we'd managed to become while we'd been on the road. It was a definite improvement for our group, that much was true. I shielded my eyes from the sun as I saw Benny and Carl approaching, waving their canteens and bottles of water in my direction.

"Isn't this the most beautiful thing you've seen all week?" Benny grinned.

He passed a bottle of water to me and I uncapped it, pouring some over my hands and scrubbing at my face with the lukewarm liquid. Carl hopped up on the bonnet of the car that Benny had been manning over our trip. He had been a real trooper for all of this. It must have been hard, but he'd probably been one of the most reliable ones in our group. His shot had improved greatly.

"Tired, huh?" Benny asked him as he leant back against the windshield.

"Yeah," He huffed. "We haven't stopped moving since leaving the farm. When do you think we're finally gonna catch a break?"

"I'd reckon soon," I smiled. "Your dad's been working hard on finding us a place. He'll stay true to his word about finding somewhere, don't you worry."

"We need to be somewhere soon. Mum needs to have the baby in a good place."

"She will, Carl. Don't worry about that now."

Lori was about ready to pop, and I think that it worried most of us. The last thing we wanted was Lori giving birth on the road, even with Hershel's medical skills and training. That would have been a true disaster to top off our current life.

There was a rustling in the trees and Daryl and Rick appeared, rushing towards us. The others were gradually making their way back up from the creek. We all stopped to turn and listen to the men, who looked like they were ready to brim over with excitement.

"We've found somewhere!" Rick grinned. "A prison. If we can clear it out, we can take it. It's perfect. It's got high walls, two sets of fencing… If we can enforce that, we're safe."

We hurried around the side fence of the prison. When Rick had said that there were Walkers in here, I'd expected there to be a fair but reasonable amount. After all, he had said that we could clear it. But looking at it now, it seemed that we were rather outnumbered by Walkers.

I watched as Rick cut the wire around the prison with a pair of pliers and Glenn and Maggie killed a Walker. My gun was loaded in my hands and our plan was ready to be followed through. It seemed like a good plan, but I wasn't sure how it would go. There would always be one downside to everything that we seemed to do.

The group crossed through the wire. I sucked in to make sure that I didn't catch myself on any of the frayed metallic material. If I did, it would be sure to cut through my skin, and that was really the last thing that we needed. Glenn and Daryl threaded the wire up when we were all inside. We ran down the path. Walkers approached us from the other side, but another wired fence prevented them from reaching us.

When we reached the end of the alley, Daryl opened a door. We were faced with a courtyard filled with Walkers, the prison just behind. It was a dismal looking place, with a grey appearance. It didn't look friendly but it definitely looked a whole lot nicer than sleeping in the back seats of cars.

"It's perfect," Rick announced. "If we can shut that gate, prevent more from filling the yard, we can pick off these Walkers. We'll take the field by tonight."

"So how do we shut the gate?" Hershel asked the important question.

"I'll do it," Glenn said. "You guys cover me."

"No, it's a suicide run," Maggie shook her head.

"I'm the fastest."

"No. You, Maggie and Beth draw as many as you can over there, pop them through the fence. Daryl, Annie, go back to the other tower. Carol, you've become a pretty good shot, take your time, we don't have a lot of ammo to waste. Hershel, you, Carl and Benny, take this tower… I'll run for the gate."

There was a slight pause and a few disbelieving faces, but everyone backtracked to their positions. I climbed up to the tower I'd been situated along with Daryl and Carol. My pistol was in my hands and the rifle that I often opted for slung over my shoulder. I could hear Glenn, T-Dogg, Maggie and Beth screaming and yelling to draw the Walkers to them along the fence. Then, they would stab them through the head when they got close enough.

Lori pushed open the door for Rick and he started to move, shooting Walkers down who got in his way. I tucked my pistol away and lifted the rifle from my shoulder, looking through the scope and aiming for Walkers in his path, shooting them down before they could reach him. Carol shot wildly and the bullet skimmed along the floor next to Rick's feet.

"Sorry," She called out humbly.

I shot down one last Walker before I saw Rick managing to shut the gate and hurrying into one of the towers, slamming the door.

"He did it!" Carol said in surprise.

"Light it up!" Daryl yelled out to the others.

Everyone lifted their guns and started to pelt down the last of the Walkers. It was a chaotic sound, but soon the courtyard was lifeless. Corpses were flattened into the high grass and everything was over. The group departed from their positions, moving across the courtyard towards Rick who sported a massive smile.

"Fantastic!" Carol flung her arms out.

"Nice shooting," Daryl smiled too, although scoffed slightly under his breath.

"Yeah… You okay?"

"I haven't felt this good in weeks," Lori grinned.

"Oh! We haven't had this much space since we left the farm!"

When everyone had finally managed to get over our huge success, Benny, T-Dogg, Glenn, Maggie and I headed out to the cars to drive them into the front of the courtyard. This would finally be a place where we could rest our head and not have to worry about being attacked from all angles. It seemed unreal that we had finally managed to find a place after eight months of trekking across the country.

"I didn't realise your aim was so good," Benny said after we parked the cars.

"I've had a good aim from the start," I nudged him jokingly. "Just because you were the one who learnt shooting firsthand doesn't mean you're the bomb, old man."

"Oh, whatever… Daryl was definitely admiring your firing."

"What?"

"I was on the opposite tower. I could see him looking at you every time you shot a Walker town. He was very impressed, I gotta say…"

"Well, yeah… He taught me how to shoot in the first place, so he's probably just thinking about how good his mentoring skills are…"

I blushed slightly and glanced down as Benny chuckled, making a sarcastic noise of agreement. I hadn't noticed Daryl looking myself, but Benny's teasing manner made me think that it was probably true. My big brother would never be able to get round the idea of me having male friends. Apparently that was just too much.

That night, we lit up a campfire in the courtyard and sat around eating some of the game that Daryl had taken down earlier this week. I picked at the meat from the bone, sitting in the dim, glowing light. Everyone's moods had uplifted significantly. Rick was guarding one of the fences and Daryl was on top of the upturned prison bus over by the gate, standing on watch. Carol was making her way over to him with some food. I would have done it myself, but I was sure that Daryl was getting annoyed of me lingering around him, especially after what Benny had said. He probably thought I was like an annoying puppy.

"Just like my mum used to make," Glenn grinned as he ate.

"Tomorrow, we'll put all the bodies together," T-Dogg said. "We want to keep them away from that water. Now, if we can dig a canal under the fence, we'll have plenty of fresh water."

"The soil is good, we could plant some seed, grow some tomatoes, cucumbers, soybeans," Hershel glanced over at Rick. "That's his third time around. If there was any part of it compromised, he'd have found it by now."

All of us were concerned about Rick and his obsessive protective manner. But if any of us said anything to him, he would just disregard it and wave us away.

"This will be a good place to have the baby," Beth smiled. "Safe."

I glanced over towards Daryl and Carol. He was helping her climb on top of the bus. Before anyone could catch onto the fact that I was staring in an almost jealous manner, I turned away. Benny caught my eye and waggled his eyebrows and I rolled my eyes at him. If he did anything else, he would make people start to suggest things that were completely untrue.

My brother remained watching them over my shoulder. I ate silently as I listened to the others reminisce of times before this. I noticed Benny's eyebrows practically shoot into his hairline and turned my head to see Daryl massaging Carol's shoulder. An awkward cough escaped him and I turned back around quickly, avoiding my brother's gaze. Why did that matter to me? Daryl was a friend. Heck, Carol was a friend. I shrugged it off and pitched into the conversation.

The two of them soon made their way back towards the campfire. I didn't dare look up at them, in case they were involved in any kind of romantic gesture. That would have been beyond awkward.

"Bethy, sing 'Paddy Reilly' for me," Hershel said. "I haven't heard that I think, since your mother was alive."

"Daddy, not that one, please," Maggie looked at her father pleadingly.

"How about uh… 'Parting Glass'?"

"No one wants to hear," Beth blushed and looked away.

"Why not?" Glenn asked.

She sighed and agreed before launching into the song. It was one that I had heard many times before. My grandmother had been a lover of the song, and would sing it to us whenever we couldn't sleep. She had lived with us up until she passed away of cancer. She had been the reason that I had decided to work in a nursing home.

I smiled when Maggie joined in, pulling at the dry grass that I sat upon. Everyone was quiet and peaceful as they sung the beautiful song and it felt like maybe, just maybe, everything would be alright again.

"Beautiful," Hershel spoke for us all when they had finished.

Rick approached from where he had been pacing the fence. We all glanced up and sighed when we heard of the duties we had to do.

"Better all turn in," He said. "I'll take watch over there, we've got a big day tomorrow."

"What do you mean?" Glenn frowned.

"Look, I know we're all exhausted. This was a great win. But we gotta push just a little bit more. Most of the Walkers are dressed as guards of prisoners; looks like this place fell pretty early. Could mean the supplies may be in tact. They have an infirmary, a commissary."

"An armoury?" Daryl chipped in.

"That would be outside the prison itself, but not too far away. Warden's offices would have info on the location. Weapons, food, medicine, this place could be a gold mine!"

"We're dangerously low on ammo," Hershel agreed. "We'll run out before we make a dent."

"That's why we gotta go in there. Hand to hand. After all we've been through, we can handle it, I know it. These assholes don't stand a chance."

After his uplifting pep talk, all of us moved around to get ready for the night ahead of us. We would be sleeping in the courtyard so as to prevent a fuss from being made too late at night. There was no way we could risk drawing too many Walkers over to the prison on the first night of being here.

I pulled my sleeping bag out of the boot of one of the cars, setting it down on the ground and closing the boot shut after me. Daryl was wheeling his motorcycle round to prop up next to the vehicles. He glanced up at me and smiled and I quickly returned it, looking away awkwardly afterwards. Benny would give me hell later.

"Don't think about it too much," My brother muttered from behind me.

"Benny," I jumped slightly at his voice but turned to glare at him. "There's nothing for me to think about, is there? So, if you could just lay off, that would be great. I haven't got a problem. In fact, I don't even know what you're talking about."

"If you say so… He probably didn't mean it how you -"

"This conversation is over, Ben. It doesn't need to be brought up again, got it? Now, I'm going to go and set out my sleeping bag, and you'll set out yours, and we'll regroup in the morning. Doesn't that sound great? Yeah? Okay."

I pushed past him towards the rest of the group to set up. It wouldn't be Daryl and Carol making it awkward over my brother. Benny had a knack for that sort of thing. Anyway, there really wasn't anything wrong. And if there was, what Benny thought anyway, I couldn't let something so silly get in the way of all this. It was dangerous.

**A/N: So, this is the lapse into season 3 now:) I hope everyone had a great NYE, whatever you were doing! Wishing you all the best for 2014. Thanks!**


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

We gathered in the courtyard of the prison. I turned the hunting knife in my possession between my fingers, listening as Rick spoke through the plan for what seemed like the thousandth time. T-Dogg, Daryl, Rick, Maggie, Glenn and I would go through the gate into the main courtyard and start killing the Walkers that were holed up inside there so that we could have access to the interior of the prison. Meanwhile, Hershel, Carl, Carol, Lori, Beth and Benny would draw them away to the fence and stab them through the wire. My brother was usually a very upfront person, but he had opted to linger back on this one and hang around in case anything went wrong as the others probably wouldn't be able to handle it by themselves.

Rick pulled open the gate and T-Dogg rushed through, instantly stabbing a Walker. After a moment of hesitation, I followed the others and joined with stabbing the Walkers in the head. This was something that I never thought I would be able to achieve, but now it was just like second nature. They dropped down like it was a routine. Perhaps it should have sickened me, but I felt nothing.

"Almost there," Rick called out when we'd emptied the first courtyard.

I pushed my sweaty hair away from my forehead as we approached the second courtyard. As we noticed it filled with Walkers, we all shared an intake of breath and hid behind one of the walls. Two Walkers wandered out from behind a vehicle in guard's uniform. The helmets on their heads were a definite disadvantage.

Two more Walkers came out from behind the wall and Maggie booted one before it had a chance to lay its hands on her. Walkers were trying to file away from the second courtyard, but Rick quickly ran towards the gate and yanked it shut with the help of Daryl. I watched as Maggie stabbed one of the Walkers by shoving her knife up into the helmet. She looked pleased with herself. Eventually, the rest of us started to follow in her steps. I moved up behind one of the Walkers and stabbed it in the neck before turning it around and pulling away its helmet, taking another hit to the head. The gooey brown substance which was supposedly decaying blood erupted onto my milky skin. I groaned and wiped my hand roughly on my jeans.

"Stop," Rick ordered.

"Looks secure," Glenn said as we all analysed the outside of the prison.

"Nothing will lead to that courtyard over there," Daryl said, pointing to one of the bodies. "And that's a civilian."

"So the interior could be overrun by Walkers from outside the prison."

"It's likely," I offered to T-Dogg's suggestion. "We can't be the first people to think that this was a safe place to take up shelter."

"Well, if there's walls, then, what are we gonna do? We can't rebuild this whole place."

"We can't risk a blind spot. We have to push in."

Daryl opened one of the doors in the area, holding it open to us. I took a deep breath before following the others and sliding past Daryl, stepping into the cell block of the prison. The door slammed shut behind me and I jumped, spinning around. Daryl lifted his hands guiltily in surrender and I turned away again.

The cell block was empty. No humans, no Walkers. Rick pinched the keys from a dead guard and we followed him through a gate that led to all the cells. I crinkled up my nose in disgust at the scent of rot and decay. Rick and Daryl moved upstairs, clearing out some of the Walkers and tossing them downstairs. T-Dogg dragged a body outside with the instruction to tell the others to come back.

I paced around the area, my footsteps echoing in the silence. I peeked my head into one of the cells and moved towards the bunk bed, running my hand over the stiff mattress that occupied the frame.

"You a fan?" Daryl asked from behind me.

As I turned, I noticed him leant up against the doorframe with his arms crossed. There was nothing I could do but shrug. This place was safe and better than we'd had in weeks, but it still was a weird thought to be shacking up in a prison, even in the current world.

"It ain't that bad," Daryl commented. "Sure, it could use some sprucing up, but it has potential and all."

"Yeah, maybe Carol and Lori could give the place a makeover," I said in a faintly bitter tone. "Make it out to be what you want, Daryl. It'll suit fine as it is."

"You pissed?"

"No, I'm not… Look, I'm just having a bad day, okay? I'd rather you didn't question me on it. It's… personal."

"Are you having, ya know… female problems?"

There was an awkward pause and my jaw lowered slightly in disbelief. Daryl Dixon had the nerve to ask a woman that? Well, that was impressive to say the least. He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, avoiding my gaze. I remained silent for a few more seconds before bursting into laughter, covering my mouth and wincing at the loud sound flying off the walls. Daryl grinned slightly.

"No," I assured the embarrassed man. "I'm not having 'female problems'. It was just a shitty night's sleep, that's all."

"You wouldn't tell me if it was female things, even if it was," Daryl scoffed disbelievingly before lifting his hand in acknowledgement and walking away.

I heard the others entering the cell block. Their light steps proved how nervous and probably also disbelieving they were about the area that we had managed to clear. I went back out into the main area of the cellblock, leaning against the bars of one of the locked cell doors.

"What do you think?" Rick asked the others, gesturing around.

"Home sweet home," Glenn grinned.

"It's secure?" Lori questioned; I guessed that she was probably the most relieved about having a place to stay, with the arrival of the baby and everything.

"This cell block is."

"What about the rest of the prison?"

"In the morning, we'll find the cafeteria, and the infirmary."

"We'll sleep in the cells?" Beth checked, looking over my shoulder in the dank cell behind me.

I agreed that it wasn't the most appealing idea, but it was the best that we were getting right now. After eight months of constantly trekking and sleeping in the cars and falling into a light doze every now and then on the floors of dilapidated houses, this really would be a heaven for us.

"I found the keys on some guards," Rick said. "Daryl has a set too."

"I ain't sleeping in no cage," Daryl scoffed. "I'll take the perch."

There was no point in waiting around, and everyone instantly moved to get settled into cells. I heaved my bag onto my shoulder and moved up the metallic staircase, the sound of my boots resonating. Daryl was hauling a mattress from one of the cells and setting it up on the perch by the staircase. I raised my eyebrows briefly at him before moving past and going into a cell a couple doors down from where he had set up, dumping my luggage on the thin mattress and sitting down beside it. A tap on the bars signalled that Benny was there.

"I'm gonna take the cell next to yours, okay?" He checked.

"What, in case I need protecting?" I rolled my eyes. "I thought we were past this point, Ben. I'm fine by myself right now. Anyway, don't let me keep you."

"Nah, you're not worth all my time."

I glared mockingly at him and he grinned before pushing away. I could hear him putting his things down in the cell beside mine. It annoyed me slightly that he thought he had to be on his top guard around me, but he was just trying to protect me. I couldn't push away my big brother for trying to be there for me. It wasn't fair.

There was a shuffle outside and I could hear two low male voices. I poked my head out of the cell door and spotted Benny talking to Daryl. A groan escaped my lips and I clapped a hand to my head. What did my brother think he was doing? He interfered at the worst of times, and I knew that he wasn't informing Daryl of the weather predictions for the next week. I slunk back into my cell and sat back down, shifting through my sports bag. The strap had ached against my shoulder considering how heavy the bag had been. I hadn't even realised that Benny and I had packed so much. When I went through all of our possessions, I noticed that a lot of things were completely unnecessary and useless to us right now. But it didn't mean that I wanted to just through my memories away. I held a crumpled photo of my family between my fingers, smiling at our once happy exterior. Well, hadn't that all been washed away down the drain along with any hope and feelings I had anymore.

Benny must have packed the things in here. I had no recollection of picking out so many photos. My brother must have stopped at our family home before he moved onto the garage. He had never mentioned that to me, but it wouldn't surprise me. I sighed and tucked the photos in the side of the bag so that they wouldn't get damaged anymore. They were already curling at the corners from being kept away for such a long time. The only photo that remained in my hands was of Benny and Olivia. It brought a sour expression to my face.

I slipped the photo under the mattress when I heard footsteps approaching my cell and glanced up quickly to see Benny. He shot me the thumbs up and I glared at him.

"I didn't say anything obvious," He assured me, as if that made it better. "I dropped a few hints, sure, but nothing that will lead him on, alright? God, you should thank me for being such a supportive and good big brother. I'm practically your wingman."

"What part didn't you understand about dropping it?" I growled at him. "Looks like it's too late now anyway. Why don't you do something useful and clean out some of the Walker bodies okay?"

Benny laughed as I shoved him out of my cell and all but pushed him into his own. As I went to help Lori and Carol unpack some of the things that they needed out for dire use, Benny went to assist Daryl, T-Dogg, Hershel ad Rick sort out all the things that they had acquired during our short time in the prison.

It was silent in the women's cell block as I sifted through some of the group's clothes that desperately needed washing. We hadn't really had a chance to do anything while out on the road. Eight months with no basic supplies was a long time to go.

Lori and Carol were talking in the background. I turned out from their conversation. They had already made it clear over time that I shouldn't get too involved with the baby things as I didn't know much about it. It wasn't like I could deny that – what did I honestly know about babies, especially in the zombie apocalypse? Even at the age of twenty three, I was coming across as stupid and naïve. I was just baggage.

"Annie, can you go and get Hershel for me?" Lori called out to me.

"Oh, sure," I nodded and moved quickly from the cell.

The 'men' were gathered round a table studying all of the things that they had. They glanced up very briefly as I approached but said nothing. I tapped Hershel's shoulder and he turned away from the group, moving towards me so that I could mutter something in his ear.

"Lori wants to see you," I mumbled to him.

"Is she alright?" Hershel asked.

"I'm not sure, but she seemed a bit upset earlier. It's about the baby, I know that much. She's in her cell with Carol."

Hershel nodded and departed from the group to go and see Lori. I hung back and moved over to the men, looking at the guns they had lined up on the table.

"We're going to go in," Rick held up the helmet in his hands. "It's better to get this place all cleared out early so we don't have anything else to worry about."

Benny cringed at the gunk that dripped from the inside of the helmet. I had to admit, I wasn't too keen about the idea of putting that on my head. It had been decided that T-Dogg, Daryl, Rick, Hershel, Glenn, Maggie, Benny and I would go into the inner corridors of the prison to clear them.

We suited up and armed ourselves, staring at the door ahead that we would soon be rushing into. God knows what was in there. I really didn't want to know if I was being honest, but I checked the clips of my guns anyway and slipped them away, picking up the axe that Benny handed to me silently. Carl went to put a helmet on but Rick quickly snatched it from his hands and laid it aside.

"You won't need that, I need you to stay put," Rick told him strictly.

"You're kidding!" Carol groaned.

"We don't know what's in there. If something goes wrong, you could be the last man standing. I need you to handle things here."

"Sure."

"Great, let's go."

Carl opened the door for us and we walked into the stale smelling corridors, the door slamming shut behind us. We advanced carefully through the dark corridors, stepping around the dead bodies that were sprawled on the floor. Daryl was in front of me and Benny was behind. I followed the bright glare of the flashlight at the front of the group, keeping my hand out in front of me so that I didn't bash straight into Daryl. He would probably swing round and whack me on the head, thinking I was a Walker.

Glenn was spraying white arrows on the walls with spray can so that we could find our way back later on. I felt slightly like Hansel and Gretel. But, I felt fairly safe, as I knew that our whole plan had been sorted out. We had gone through it a dozen times and all of us knew what to do in each situation. We would get out alive.

We turned round the corner of the wall and saw a group of Walkers. The mutations laid their eyes on us and we turned back, skidding along the floor as we ran with the Walkers on our tail.

"Go back!" Rick yelled from behind me. "Go back, move! This way!"

"Come on, this way!" Daryl reached out and grabbed my wrist, yanking me in front of him and pushing me forward before calling out to Benny.

I quickly turned to check that my brother was okay, sighing in relief when I saw him behind me. Walkers were blocking us from what seemed to be all ends. I turned and followed after T-Dogg, Rick and Hershel, squinting my eyes and trying to adjust my vision in the dark maze of corridors.

"Where's Glenn and Maggie?" Rick called over his shoulder.

"We have to go back!" Hershel yelled.

"But which way?"

During all the chaos, I hadn't even noticed that the golden couple of the hour had been separated from our group. Rick opened a door in front carefully and we all stepped inside, starting to search for Glenn and Maggie. Hershel called for them and I trod softly on the floor, looking over my shoulder to see Daryl standing almost directly behind me, nudging me in the right direction whenever I paused.

"Rick?"

"Dad?"

The voices echoed out and Hershel moved quickly towards them. We waited a few moments before we heard a scream. Rick rushed in the direction and we followed. A Walker had clamped its mouth around Hershel's leg and taken a bite. Maggie and Glenn were there, staring in shock. I gaped as Rick shot the Walker.

"No! No, daddy! No!"

Maggie's screams were attracting Walkers on both sides and we didn't have any time. Rick and Glenn threw Hershel's arms round their shoulders and started to run while supporting the older man.

"Daryl!" Rick yelled for the other alpha.

"Run!"

"We're blocked!"

"Get back, get back!"

"Go!"

All of the various calls ad instructions were confusing to listen to all at once, but we finally spotted a door and wrenched it open, ushering everyone inside. Benny collapsed to the floor against the door, pushing at the door with his back.

"Get in!" Daryl tugged everyone in before helping Benny to close the door properly.

T-Dogg joined them, pushing against the heavy barricades with difficulty. Hershel was screaming and I grimaced when I saw the blood pouring from the bite wound in his leg. We couldn't lose such an important survivor in the group, and I knew what Rick was doing when he wrapped his belt around Hershel's leg.

"Hold him down!" He instructed. "Alright. Only one way to keep him alive!"

Rick held out his hand towards me and I almost reluctantly handed over the axe that I had been gripping tightly in my sweaty palm. Maggie and Glenn gripped Hershel to the floor as he wailed and thrashed. I bit down on my lower lip and squeezed my eyes shut as Rick lifted the axe, bringing it down sharply against Hershel's leg. He continued to hack at it and Hershel eventually passed out from the pain. Finally, the leg was detached.

"He's bleeding out," Rick fretted.

I slipped off my flannel shirt and leant down beside Rick, holding the material to the weeping stump, but the material was quickly drenched out and was no good to stop the heavy blood flow. Rick groaned and I cussed, trying to tighten the fabric, but it did nothing.

"Duck."

At Daryl's words, everyone lowered to the ground and spun around to follow his gaze. He pointed his flashlight and crossbow to the far end of the room. His light revealed four men standing there. Prisoners, to be precise. They all looked shocked and disgusted at the sight of what we were doing. One of them finally spoke up as we all remained frozen, staring at each other like a showdown.

"Holy shit."


	33. Chapter 33

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

Daryl moved towards the prisoners with his crossbow aimed and ready. I stood up from where I had been crouched on the floor, my once fine shirt now bloody and dripping in my hands. Hershel remained unconscious on the floor.

"Who the hell are you?" Daryl demanded.

"Who the hell are you?" One of the prisoners repeated his question.

"He's bleeding out, we gotta go back," Rick ignored them and turned to Maggie. "Come around here. Put pressure on the knee. Hard! Push!"

Maggie was definitely confused through everything that had happened and struggled to get the job down quickly. I knelt beside her and gave her a hand with her father. If he were to not wake up, that really would be the epitome of our worries.

"Come on out of here," Daryl instructed the prisoners. "Slow and steady."

I watched as the five males made their way towards us. One was covered in tattoos with shoulder length greasy black hair, the one who had spoken earlier had similar auburn hair and a moustache and then there were three black men of various sizes. All of them stood in their jumpsuits staring wildly at us. I focused my attention on Hershel, listening to them talk.

"What happened to him?" The one with black hair asked.

"He got bit," Daryl said bluntly.

"Bit?"

One of the prisoners grabbed for his gun but T-Dogg was quick to counter him with his own. Benny also took out his gun and kept it at the ready in case any trouble started. I didn't want to judge these men for being prisoners, but they weren't exactly the trustworthy type in my eyes, especially not right now in our crisis.

"Whoa, whoa," Daryl became the voice of reason. "Nobody needs to get hurt."

"I need you to hold this," Rick instructed Maggie as I sat beside Hershel. "As hard as you can."

"You got medical supplies?" Glenn asked, pushing past the prisoners.

"Wow, where do you think you're going?"

Glenn ignored the large prisoner who confronted him and carried on rooting through the area that they had been cooped up in. The Walkers were still trying to barge their way through the door and I doubted that my brother and T-Dogg could hold them off for much longer. There was only so much those doors would be able to take.

"Who the hell are you people anyway?" The man who seemed to be the leader spoke up once more with distaste lining his tone.

"Don't look like no rescue team."

"If a rescue team's what you're waiting for, don't!" Rick said grimly.

Rick pulled Hershel up and Glenn barged back through with a metal table. It would work as a gurney for the time being. Glenn and Rick heaved Hershel up onto the table and moved over to the door. All of us backed away from the prisoners and my brother and T rested their hands on the door handles, ready to pull it open on the sound of go. The prisoners looked appalled at our rash idea.

"Holy Jesus!"

"Are you crazy? Don't open that!"

"We got this."

The door was pulled open and T-Dogg instantly killed a Walker that came in. The others moved ahead, pushing Hershel along on the table. Daryl was still standing with his crossbow aimed as the greasy haired prisoner aimed his gun. I hung back, chewing my lip anxiously and waiting for Daryl to drop his weapon and move.

"It's not worth it," I muttered, reaching forward and tugging on the back of his shirt to gain his attention.

He glanced over his shoulder at me and hesitated before nodding and allowing me to lead the way, his crossbow still pointed as we backed out of the room and back into the corridors where we had originally came.

We caught up to the others and navigated our way back to the cell block. It was dark and the torch up ahead was flickering round every corner. As we went to turn round a different corner, more Walkers appeared. We were in no position to start killing them considering the condition Hershel was in. He needed to get out and quickly.

"Go! Back, back! Daryl!" Rick yelled.

Daryl killed a Walker quickly and turned on his heel, leading the procession in a different direction once more. Rick called for us to halt and we turned to see the shadows of the prison group dancing across the walls behind us.

"Follow the flashlight, come on let's go!"

"You have got to be kidding me," I mumbled under my breath.

Rick looked peeved but he said nothing, motioning for us to go ahead. I stuck behind Daryl as he pushed through a door. Maggie was still trying to keep pressure on Hershel's knee, but her desperate cries said a lot about the situation.

"He's losing too much!" She gasped.

Finally, we managed to emerge from the corridors and out into the cell block. Rick yelled for his son to open the door and Carl quickly came, unlocking the gates and allowing us to all push through with Hershel in tow.

"Oh, my God!" Carol wailed.

"Daddy!" Beth hurried forward.

Glenn and Rick moved the table into one of the cells. I remained out in the cell block, sitting down at one of the tables in exhaustion. My clothes and body were covered with Hershel's fresh blood. I could even feel the liquid staining at my pale face. A commotion rose from inside the cell and I sighed. Daryl was also in the cell block, sitting on one of the tables with his crossbow aimed at the door.

"Do you think we lost them?" I mumbled.

"Nah," He shook his head. "They were right behind us. Ya might wanna go sit this one out. They ain't gonna be taking much longer."

"I think I'd rather sit here than watch them all run about like headless chickens. I don't know why my brother is in there. He's the biggest lightweight you'll ever meet."

Daryl made a faint noise of agreement and I smiled to myself. Benny would always pass out at the sight of blood when he'd been younger and we were still both living at home. I'd always been the one for gore and guts.

"You spoke to him earlier," I stated wearily.

"Yeah," Daryl answered, still pointing his crossbow and not looking over to me.

"Was he… was he saying much to you?"

"Nah. Nothin'."

I narrowed my eyes at the back of Daryl's head. Benny had either lied to me to get me wound up or Daryl wasn't going to say anything. There was nothing much more I could do to press on though, as the five prisoners entered the room.

"That's far enough," Daryl called out to them in a warning tone.

The one with greasy hair landed his eyes on Daryl before glancing over to me. He smirked and folded his arms. Clearly he didn't think our group would be too much trouble to take down and get out of the way.

"Cell block C," He announced. "Cell four, that's mine, gringo. Let me in."

"Today's your lucky day, fellas," Daryl said. "You've been pardoned by the state of Georgia, you're free to go"

"What you got going on in there?"

"Ain't none of your concern."

The man relentlessly pulled his gun out of his pocket and I hastily moved to draw mine. He scoffed slightly at me and I raised an eyebrow. If he thought that I wouldn't shoot, he was wrong. Sure, I hadn't killed a human before, but it was never too late to start in this world.

"Don't be telling me what's my concern," He snapped.

"Chill, man," The largest prisoner calmed him. "Dude's leg is messed up. Besides, we're free now! Why are we still in here?"

"Man's got a point," Daryl agreed.

"Yeah, and I gotta check on my old lady," Another prisoner spoke up.

"Group of civilians breaking into a prison you've got no business being in, got me thinking there ain't no place for us to go!"

"Why don't you go find out?" Daryl's voice became a growl as he spoke to the leader of the group.

"Maybe we'll just be going now," The ginger haired one rushed.

"Hey, we ain't leaving!"

Footsteps came from behind me and T-Dogg arrived with his gun aimed at the main man.

"You ain't coming here either!" T declared.

I smiled ever so slightly to myself. Our group had gone through its ups and downs, but I didn't think that it would have been possible to find a tighter knit group than this one. They were all reliable and all of us were there for each other when we needed it. The prisoners did not seem to take too kindly to T's words, however.

"Hey, this is my house, my rules, I go where I damn well please!"

All voices were raised and everyone was talking over the top of one another. I glared at the black haired man as he looked at me, his gun dangling from his fingers. He wasn't dirty in the same way as the rest of us, which was physically. He was dirty minded, and I could tell that much of him.

"So, you got more cooze in there?" He asked with a sudden laidback tone. "I ain't seen a woman in a long time since being here… It's been months. And if all the women are –"

"You shut up!" Daryl stood up suddenly with a defensive tone, jabbing his crossbow in the man's direction. "There ain't nothing for you here, why don't you go back to your own sandbox?"

"Hey, hey!" Rick appeared in the room. "Everyone relax, there's no need for this."

"How many of you in there?"

"Too many for you to handle."

"You guys rob a bank or something? Why don't you take him to a hospital?"

"How long have you been locked in that cafeteria?"

"Going on like ten months."

"A riot broke out. Never seen anything like it."

"Attica on speed, man."

"Ever heard about dudes going cannibal, dying, coming back to life? Crazy."

Although the group of men had already managed to offend me in some sense, I couldn't help but feel sad for them. They had no idea what was going on right now. Rick looked slightly guilty, but he would have to be the one to tell them eventually. It seemed weird to know that there were still people who didn't know about all of this, considering we'd all known from the beginning.

"One guard looked out for us, locked us up in the cafeteria, told us to sit tight, threw me this piece, said he'd be right back," The leader explained.

"And that was 292 days ago," The big prisoner said. "We were thinking that the army or the national guard should be showing up any day now."

"There is no army," Rick sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"There's no government, no hospitals, no police. It's all gone."

"For real?"

"Serious."

"My kids, my old lady! Yo, you got a cell phone or something so we can call our families?"

"You don't get it, do you?" Daryl scoffed.

"No phones, no computers," Rick added. "As far as we can see, at least half the population's been wiped out. Probably more."

"Ain't no way."

"See for yourself."

We called a small 'meeting' between the members of our group and Rick said that we should take them outside to see what had happened. The others agreed and I offered to hang back to make sure that everyone was kept in order while the others tried to get Hershel to resurface again.

As the others went to leave the cell block, Daryl approached me while lowering his crossbow. He handed his set of keys to me and I smiled briefly, attaching them to the belt loop on my jeans.

"Ya know," Daryl rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "In case you need access to anywhere or something."

"Thanks," I nodded.

"So, uh… What's the real reason that you ain't coming with us? Is it cause of what that Tomas man said about the women? I can try to talk to him if you -"

"No. No, don't worry about it. That's not it. I just don't think they'll feel very comfortable with a female accompanying them. I don't want to cause any extra trouble or anything. Thanks anyway, Daryl."

"S'alright… You okay, though?"

"Oh, yeah, you know me. I'm fine."

Daryl smiled and I returned the favour. He left and I watched as the small group of men departed outside with the prisoners whom we had learnt to be Tomas, Axel, Andrew, Oscar and Big Tiny. Hopefully the prisoners would tone down a notch now that they could see we were no threat – not in this world, anyway.

In the cell, Lori and Carol were hunched over Hershel's unconscious body. I bit my lip from the doorway, realising that I still had to get cleaned up. Carol glanced over at me as I stood there. She gasped at the sight of me and moved closer, stepping back to look me over in a motherly fashion. I groaned slightly to myself at her ways, but didn't move.

"What happened to you?" She asked.

"I stayed with Hershel," I explained. "How is he holding up, by the way?"

"Not great… Did you sort out the situation with the prisoners?"

"Rick and the others have taken them out into the courtyard. I don't think that they're gonna be a problem anymore, so I wouldn't worry about them. We just had to explain what had happened."

Carol nodded and returned to tending to Hershel. I sighed and left, almost running straight into Benny as I turned. He was holding a stack of grimy towels.

"Needed something to mop up the mess," He shrugged. "I found them in some of the cells. You wanna use one? Looks like you could use a good scrub."

"Gee, thanks, Ben," I rolled my eyes.

He laughed and I took a towel from the top of the pile, walking past him and going up the stairs and sitting on the top step, rubbing at the dry blood that was crusting on my face and arms. I never thought that I'd be able to handle a situation so severe, but apparently I was more cut out for it than I thought. Perhaps I should have considered a career in medicine before all of this went down.

My skin was raw red from where I scrubbed at it with the scratchy towel, but at least I was looking halfway decent now without patches of blood glued to my skin. In hindsight, it probably would have been best to pour water over the towel first, but my mind was slightly fuzzy from all that happened since the sun had set in the sky. Everything was going at an unbelievable speed at the moment and I could barely keep up with it all.

Carl, T-Dogg and Rick walked into the cell area with a box filled with food that they had received from the prisoners. Rick met my eye and I smiled grimly at him as he walked past. T-Dogg must have mentioned the cooze dig about me. He almost looked at me in a sympathetic manner; although that was the last thing I needed in this moment. They probably thought I was moping around because of that one meaningless advance.

Rick and Lori spoke to each other outside of Hershel's cell. I turned to look away so that they didn't think I was eavesdropping on them, even if I couldn't hear their lowered voices. Lori kept glancing at me to try and catch me out but I just shrugged every time I caught her eye. She seemed to assume that I had become a less trustworthy person over the course of the eight months and joining the prison. Perhaps it was because I had left my duties of washing and cooking with the women to help the men clear out the Walkers along with Maggie. It seemed like a sexist set up, but that was just how the women mainly seemed to like it. They sent the men out and they cooped up and kept the fire going while having a good gossip about the inner workings of the group. I wasn't that person, and I never had been. Even before all of this, I had preferred to lend a hand in the garage over going out with the girls. Plus, I was useless while scrubbing dirt from clothes and roasting the meat. I belonged on the frontlines, where I could actually feel comfortable. Apparently Lori had not agreed with my decision about that. Maybe she thought I was another Andrea.

I watched as Lori pulled away from Rick. The latter moved across the room, climbing up the stairs towards me and sitting on the perch beside me. I had swung my legs over the perch and they were now dangling in the thin air. Rick remained silent for a moment before speaking up.

"Everything okay?" He asked.

"You tell me," I shrugged. "Hershel doesn't seem like he's going to be getting any better soon and now we have the threat of the prisoners raiding here."

"That won't happen. We've agreed that we'll help them clear out their own cell block. They understand. And Hershel's tough – he can make it through this."

"I'm sure."

"Are you upset about what they said?"

"No, Rick, that's not why I hung back, if that's what you want to know. I just didn't think they would be comfortable with a female. Anyway, I'm a bit shaken up about Hershel and all, so I thought it would be best that I didn't jeopardize everything you guys were doing."

"Well, Daryl, T and I are gonna go take the prisoners to help clear out their cell block. Maybe you'd like to offer a hand? You'd probably be more helpful than you are here, if you get my drift."

"Yeah, I get it. Stop moping around and do something."

Rick smiled slightly and I laughed, heaving myself up and following Rick down the stairs and away from the cells into the main area of the cell block. Daryl and T-Dogg were stationed with the prisoners as they handed out weapons to them. Daryl nodded when he caught my eye.

"Why do I need this, when I've got this?" Tomas snorted, waving his gun about almost dangerously in the air.

"You don't fire guns," Daryl said, on his last nerve with the man. "Not unless your back's up against the wall. Noise attracts them, really riles them up."

I avoided Tomas' gaze as I tucked my trusty pistol into the waistband of my jeans and armed myself with the axe that I had been using earlier (unfortunately used upon Hershel's leg) and a couple of hunting knives tucked into the pocket of my jeans. Daryl brushed past me and I reached out a hand to stop him, gripping at his arm. He waited as I hooked the keys from my belt, handing them back to him.

"Thanks," He mumbled.

"We'll go in two by two," Rick spoke up. "Daryl will run point with T; I'll bring up the rear with Andrew. Stay tight, hold formation, no matter how close the Walkers get. Anyone breaks ranks, we could all go down, anyone runs off, they could get mistaken for a Walker, end up with an axe to the head."

I wasn't keen on the idea of being left in the middle with the other four prisoners, but at least I knew that their aim wasn't to kill me over the Walkers.

"And that's where you aim," Daryl added. "These things only go down with a head shot."

"Ain't gonna tell us how to take out a man," Tomas scoffed.

"They ain't men," T-Dogg grimaced. "They're something else."

"Just remember, go for the brain."

We walked over to the door. Tomas was standing beside me as we stood in formation. I glanced at him as he was looking down at me, an almost sinister expression on his face. To say that the guy gave me the creeps was an understatement. His eyes were dark and they didn't even seem to be capable of bearing any emotion.

"Running with the big boys," He muttered under his breath, so only I, and possibly Big Tiny on my other side could hear.

"If that's what you're referring to yourself as, I'm not sure," I rolled my eyes. "Don't get in my way, alright? It won't be my fault if I stab you in the eye."

Tomas backed away ever so slightly at my blunt threat. I would never usually use such vocabulary towards anyone, no matter who they were, but I had no time to waste right now and I really wasn't in the mood to be dealing with him.

We walked slowly through the corridors, sticking in our formation. I kept an eye on Tomas. His weapon was constantly raised in a brutal manner and I was worried that he would swing out and hit me. That blade on the knife he was holding would do some damage.

"Man, it's too damn dark in here!" Big Tiny complained.

"Gotta hold it up high in front of you," Daryl said from in front of me. "You're gonna hear 'em before you see 'em."

"It's coming!" Axel hissed when he saw shadows of Walkers on the walls and heard the telltale groans.

Daryl hushed him and I watched as two Walkers appeared. Before any of us could make a move, the prisoners let out a barbaric scream and ran forward brandishing their weapons over their head. I fell back into line with Daryl, T-Dogg and Rick and we all stared at them in disbelief.

"Are they going to aim everywhere other than the head?" I said in exasperation.

"You wanna taste me?" Axel yelled at one of the Walkers, jabbing it in the stomach with his knife.

It was safe to say that the prisoners were failing to follow simple instructions. I rubbed a hand across my face tiredly and leant back against the wall, lowering my axe. There was no point even trying to stop them. They weren't going to listen. Hopefully they would just figure it out themselves over time.

"It's gotta be the brain!" Daryl finally stepped in after a few minutes of witnessing the tragedy, shooting an arrow into a Walker's head. "Not the stomach, not the heart! The brain!"

"I hear you, the brain."

Another Walker arrived and Oscar successfully stabbed it in the head. More Walkers started filtering through the corridors. Another two Walkers were taken down.

"Stay in tight formation, no more prison riot crap!" Rick instructed.

More Walkers than I thought came through and everyone started to fight. I dodged away from Tomas as he violently swung his knife around. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Big Tiny hiding fearfully behind a wall, but there was no time to do anything. A Walker had me pinned to the wall as I saw a Walker take a bite on Big Tiny before Rick could reach him. I grunted and held up my arm to barricade the Walker from getting any further, swinging the axe into its head and watching it drop before me. Daryl turned and checked to see if I had been bitten but I raised my hands and shook my head. I turned to look at Big Tiny guiltily.

His shoulder had been bitten. There was no way we could move on from this point. Sure, we could amputate Hershel's leg and stop the infection from spreading, but there was no way that we could save Big Tiny when the bite was in such an awkward place. I felt slightly angry at him for not fighting, but he couldn't be to blame.

"I'm telling you!" He insisted. "I don't feel anything, it's just a scratch!"

"I'm sorry man," Rick sighed.

"I can keep fighting!"

"You cut that old guy's leg off to save his life!" Andrew interrupted.

"Look where the bite is!"

"Guys, I'm fine! Just… I'm fine. Look, look at me, I'm not changing into one of those things."

"Look, man, there's gotta be something we can do; we could just lock him up!" Oscar suggested desperately, not wanting to cut down on his already small group.

"Quarantine him!"

"We gotta do something! Why are you just standing there, we gotta save him!"

"There's nothing we can do."

"You son of a bitch!"

As Big Tiny went to speak again, Tomas suddenly stabbed him in the head. He continued swinging his hammer at him. I gaped as Big Tiny slid to the floor, his face practically mutilated by his fellow inmate. He finally finished hacking at his friend, walking away with his face covered in blood.

T-Dogg shrugged at me and ordered the prisoners back up in their previous formation, moving along. Daryl and Rick exchanged a few words and Daryl eventually caught up to me as I walked along numbly behind Axel. How could someone be so cold blooded? Yes, we were going to kill him, but in a more humane way to say at the least. There was no need for the brutality that Tomas had presented.

"Stay away from him," Daryl warned. "I don't want to see ya getting hurt. He's a mad man."

"You're telling me," I laughed mockingly. "He's crazy."

Daryl moved towards the front again and we arrived in a room which contained a set of heavy doors. This would lead into the cell block where the prisoners would live. If you asked me, it was a fine deal they were getting out of it, especially with all of our help. Daryl handed Tomas the keys from his belt.

"I ain't opening that," Tomas scoffed.

"Yes, you are," Rick informed him. "If you want this cell block, you're gonna open that door. Just the one, not both of them. Because we need to control this."

"You bitches ready? I got this."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes as I watched Tomas tug unsuccessfully at the doors. Suddenly, he yanked both of them open at once, unleashing the full extent of the Walkers that had been trying to claw their way out at the sound of our voices.

"I said one door!" Rick yelled.

"Shit happens!"

Walkers spilled out and we quickly lifted our weapons. Tomas had made stupid decision after stupid decision and I couldn't entirely believe that we were still hanging around and allowing him to try and dictate us all. I noticed him push a Walker onto Rick, but Daryl quickly stepped into save his alpha.

Tomas continued swinging his knife recklessly. I tried to keep my distance, but he moved back and forth at a hasty speed. I killed a Walker just as it was about to take him from behind, although I slightly wished that I had left him for the taking. Tomas must have felt the Walker touch him as it fell to the ground, as he turned around and slashed his knife. I, still being in the firing zone, felt the full force of the knife slice down the edge of my face, just missing my hairline.

I couldn't help but gasp at the sharp pain as sticky blood poured onto my fingers. Finally, all the Walkers were dead. A moment of silence hung in the air as everyone in the group turned to stare at my face in shock. Tomas stood in front of me, his face blank and his knife still pointed in my direction. I scrubbed furiously at the side of my face, trying to stop the bleeding. We didn't need another casualty right now.

Daryl was burning holes into the back of Tomas' head. As Tomas turned to explain to Rick about what had happened and to also 'apologise' about pushing the Walker onto Rick, T-Dogg helped me to clean up as much blood as he could from my face with a dirty rag that had been tucked into the pocket of my jeans. My hair was becoming solid with the congealed blood and I could feel how sore my face was becoming, but I refused to let anyone catch on. This wouldn't be my breaking point, not yet.

"Shit happens," Rick said.

I looked up in time to see Rick stabbing Tomas in the head. The latter man fell to the floor, dead. I stared in shock and Andrew reared towards Rick with a baseball bat, but Rick kicked him away and Daryl threatened his crossbow.

"Easy now," Daryl growled.

Andrew ran away in disbelief, Rick hot on his tail. While the two left, the rest of us were stranded in the room.

"Hey, get down on your knees!" Daryl instructed Oscar and Axel.

"We don't have no affiliation to what just happened!" Axel pleaded as his friend lowered himself to his knees. "Tell him, Oscar!"

"Stop talking man."

I leant against a wall at the entrance of the cell block, my eyes closed as I tilted my head back. T-Dogg watched over the prisoners as Daryl approached me. He leant beside me and I glanced at him briefly as he looked to the floor.

"Ya sure you're okay?" He checked.

"I'm fine," I mumbled. "Nothing that a few stitches can't sort out… Well, if Hershel wakes up that is. I'm sure this'll all be fine."

Daryl moved to stand in front of me. I can't really remember ever being this close to him since being at the farm. He lifted up a hand and cupped my cheek, his fingers running very lightly across the cut that Tomas had made. I winced and Daryl pulled away quickly.

"Sorry," He muttered.

"No, no, it's okay," I shook my head.

It was awkward and we both pulled away from each other when Rick entered the room again. Rick and Daryl took to threatening Oscar with a gun and knife, whereas T-Dogg pointed his gun at Axel. Rick requested that I stay on the sidelines.

"We didn't have nothing to do with that," Oscar said.

"You didn't know?" Rick replied. "You knew! Daryl, let's end this now!"

"Sir, please, please listen to me," Axel egged. "It was them that was bad! It wasn't us!"

"Oh, that's convenient."

Daryl had his knife pressed to Oscar's neck and Rick was pointing his gun in Axel's direction along with T-Dogg. For some odd reason, I trusted Oscar and Axel. They weren't the same as the others, I could see that. They hadn't done anything that had really put our group in danger.

"Just listen to him, Rick," I said quietly.

Rick looked up at me with a surprised expression but hesitantly nodded, allowing Axel to go on with his desperate plea.

"You saw what he did to Tiny! He was my friend! Please! We ain't like that! I like my pharmaceuticals, but I'm no killer! Oscar here, he's a B and E and he ain't very good at it neither! We ain't the violent kind, they were! Please, I swear to God! I wanna live!"

"What about you?" Rick moved onto Oscar.

"I ain't never pleaded for my life. And I ain't about to start now. So you do what you gotta do."

I retired early and started making my way back to cell block C while the others positioned Oscar and Axel in their cell block, as it had been decided. My feet dragged along the floor as I made my way through the mainly empty corridors. I only had to swing my axe into the head of one Walker before finally reaching our cell block.

Carl unlocked the door for me and I nodded at him. He was staring at the blood on my face as I dumped the axe down on the nearest table.

"Are you alright?" He asked cautiously.

Benny appeared in the room and he gaped when he saw me. I expected him to come rushing over protectively in my direction, but he paused and shook his head.

"Looks like I'm gonna need more than one towel this time," He commented jokingly, making me smile in agreement.

My brother and Carol escorted me upstairs to my cell, where they allowed me to sit in silence. I had told them that I didn't want anyone seeing to me yet. Although I could still fill the numbing ache in my face, I didn't want anybody to be with me. I wanted to have the chance to actually let out some of my emotions that I had been forced to keep bottled up from earlier.

Carl had offered me some painkillers that he had found. I asked him how he had got them, and he explained the situation of leaving the cells to look for them in the prison. He briefly badmouthed his mother, but I said nothing, just ruffling his hair and swallowing the pills before facing the wall as I curled up on my mattress.

I must have fallen into a pretty heavy sleep, as when my eyes fluttered open to look around the cell, it was dark. There had been light filtering earlier, but now it was dim and shadowy. Instead of facing the wall, I was lying on my back and staring at the mattress above me. I turned on my side to face the cell and jumped upwards in surprise when I saw a figure sitting on a stool leant up against the far wall.

"Hey, hey!" Daryl's voice hushed me. "I ain't gonna hurt you!"

"Shit, you scared me," I grumbled, collapsing back on the bed and burying my face in my hands from the sudden accumulation of stress. "Maybe make some kind of sign next time, okay? I thought I was having a nightmare or something."

"He really screwed you over, huh?"

Daryl sounded slightly sad. I lapsed back into silence and sat on the edge of the mattress, looking at Daryl's outline in the faint light. He shifted in the chair, groaning slightly as his muscles creaked and stretched.

"How long have you been cooped up in here?" I asked him.

"An hour, maybe," He shrugged. "Not that long, really. Ya alright now? Ya were up in here since you got back. At least five hours, I reckon."

"I'm as fine as I can be. Has everything been sorted out now?"

"Yeah, Oscar and Axel are in their cell. Hershel woke up."

"He did?"

"Yep, an' he's alright. He'll be able to take a look at that nasty cut of yours tomorrow. Does it still hurt?"

"Wow, I didn't expect to be receiving a visit from Dr Dixon so late."

He smirked slightly and I laughed under my breath. Daryl moved across the room to sit on the mattress beside me. I tucked my tangled hair behind my ears and turned to face him fully. His gaze lingered on the cut on my face and I tensed as his fingers once again moved to trace along the wound. It stung, but I made no clue about it. I didn't want Daryl to think that he had hurt me.

"I'm sorry I didn't help out," He said softly.

"What?" I frowned. "Don't blame yourself on this one, Daryl. This was my fault. I got in the way. It couldn't have been prevented anyway. Don't you dare say otherwise, okay? This is all on my head. Besides, it's nothing that can't be sorted."

"Yeah, but I coulda stopped it if I'd stuck by you."

"What, and then risked Rick dying? I think I can live with a little cut, Daryl."

His face dropped silently and he looked annoyed. I watched as he stood up, running a hand roughly through his shaggy hair and slamming his hand against the frame of the bed. It shuddered beneath me and I flinched back a little, hoping that he wouldn't move to taking his rage out on me, although I knew he wasn't that person.

"It's not just a little cut, though," He hissed, not wanting to wake anyone. "Stop trying to pass it off as being nothing, cause this is a big deal! You coulda been really hurt, Annie! What don't you get about that? Why aren't ya taking it seriously?"

"Because I know that I'm okay right now!" I seethed back at him. "This is nothing, okay? I'm fine! Just get that through your head. You couldn't have done anything else. This is in the past now. Anyway, I don't need to worry about these sorts of things. I know I'm safe when I'm out with you."

My face screwed up in a cringe as I said those last words. I hadn't wanted to reveal that kind of information to Daryl. He wasn't that kind of man, and I didn't want to scare him off completely. His eyes rested on my face, searching for any telltale expressions. I slumped back down on the mattress that I had previously jumped up from.

"You're right," Daryl muttered, surprising me. "Ya are safe when you're with me. From now on, anyway. I'll make sure of that."

"Don't bite off more than you can chew," I warned jokingly, the tense atmosphere disappearing as quickly as it had arrived.

"Nah, you're not a bother. You're fine by me."

"Wow, thanks. How charming of you to say so. Alright, can I get some sleep now? I know I've barely just woken up and all, but today's taken a lot out of me… I'll see you in the morning, alright?"

Daryl nodded in agreement. I laid back down and watched him pause in the door. I expected him to leave straight away but he turned and made his way back over to me, leaning down over me and pressing his lips to my temple, his stubble scratching at my face as he pulled away roughly and quickly stormed from the cell without looking back. My hand flew to my head in confusion as I heard him settling down in his mattress out on the perch. Who was this new Daryl Dixon and what had he done with the old one?

**A/N: Woo, two chapters in a day! I've also tried to make this one a bit longer than usual, so yay for that:) Thanks again for all the reviews. Also, a big thanks to mrskaz453 for reviewing so many chapters! Your comments are very helpful and also very inspiring for me to get started on the next chapter with ideas! So, thanks for that.**

**Also, as a general question, if anyone answers that is... would it be preferable if I split this into a second story? Like, at season 4, I start a new story? Considering TWD will be back in February, that will give me a chance to write more for that. Or, a new story from the mid third season. But if you're okay with it being a big compact story, I'm cool with that!**

**Thanks for reading!**


	34. Chapter 34

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

My eyes struggled to open the next morning and I winced at a searing pain in the side of my head. Perhaps leaving the cut overnight hadn't been the best idea, but there had been no need to bother Hershel when he had only just got back on his feet. I could last a day without having it looked at, it was nothing.

It must have been later than I thought, because things were in full swing in the cell block when I emerged from my cell. Everyone was bustling around already finding themselves busy with the burden of chores that we had to complete. I groaned as I moved down the stairs. The pounding in my head was similar to that of a hangover. Sure, I was never the type to drink much, but I think I would have preferred a hangover instead of a nasty gash protruding from my hairline, that was much.

"You look like hell," My brother called out to me when I reached the bottom step.

"Charming," I rolled my eyes at him. "Where are the others at?"

I had noticed that our numbers were dwindling this morning. Glenn and Maggie had been on night watch, so were probably still out in the tower, and Rick, Daryl, T-Dogg and Carol had also disappeared.

"Sorting some things out in the courtyard," Benny answered. "Moving cars around and seeing to our little convicts and such."

"This is like the Randall situation all over again," I muttered, just so that he could hear.

"Yeah, well, at least we're handling it better this time. They're not tied up."

"But would you really like to be isolated in a completely different cell block, Ben? They're not bad people, I can see that. They seem alright, really."

"Rick made the call. We're sticking to it."

He looked at me pointedly and I nodded with a sigh. What Rick said, went. Benny nodded in the direction of Hershel's cell and I moved past him, pausing in the doorway. Lori and Beth were sat by his bedside. His youngest daughter was clinging onto his hands and Lori was sewing up some of the hems of his trousers so that he wouldn't be dragging them along when he was up and moving again.

"Annie," Hershel said as I walked in. "I haven't had a chance to say thank you for helping out with what happened since you've been running around playing hero an awful lot recently."

"I wouldn't quite call it that," I laughed. "How are you feeling?"

"Better than ever. I think that I should be asking you that question. Your brother was telling me about what happened."

"Oh, it's nothing."

Hershel huffed as he pushed himself up in his bed, Beth and Lori steadying him from either side. He motioned for me to sit in the seat that Beth had previously been occupying. I looked at the young girl and she nodded for me to go ahead. I sat in the seat and Hershel leant closer to me, inspecting the cut upon my head. My eyes couldn't help but stray to the stump that was once his leg.

"I can stitch you up," Hershel offered. "I'll do it now while it's relatively quiet in here. Don't want everyone rushing in and causing a scene. Bethy, get me my bag, will you?"

Beth moved across the room to grab Hershel's medical bag and bring it back to him. Both she and Lori left the room silently as Hershel threaded up a needle. He set it aside and picked up a bottle of rubbing alcohol.

"You didn't disinfect it?" He asked, although he probably knew the answer.

"No," I sighed. "I came in and collapsed in bed straightaway. It was a tiring day for us all yesterday, I think."

"Sounds it."

The burn of the alcohol made me seethe in pain, but I didn't want to risk infection, so I sat patiently to make the job easier for Hershel. I closed my eyes as he started stitching up the wound, humming lightly under my breath to try and distract myself from the sharp pain that was being inflicted upon me.

"You ever had stitches before?" Hershel asked casually as he worked.

"Nope," I stayed still. "I wasn't the best for danger. Only scraped my knees and hands climbing trees and such. Thank you for doing this, by the way. I know that you must be exhausted."

"I'd much rather be up and moving and serving my purpose around here. Our people in this group have been so generous to me; it would be a crime not to give back."

"We don't expect anything from you, Hershel. You've always given more than we can return."

"Rick gave me additional time with my daughters. There is nothing that can top that. I owe him my life, without a doubt."

I smiled at his words and he sat back, announcing he was done. My fingers ran over the neat stitches. Hershel really was a miracle worker. We'd be lost without him here within our group. He was what pulled us together. I thanked him one last time before leaving the cell and heading outside to catch up with the others. Rick, Daryl, Glenn, Maggie, T-Dogg and Carol were all in the yard when I arrived. Daryl glanced over his shoulder at me briefly before going back to listening to Rick. I vaguely touched my forehead, remembering the rough way that he had pecked me last night. My mind decided for me that I wouldn't bring that up again, just like the kiss on the farm.

"Move the cars to the upper yard," Rick instructed as I stopped. "Point them facing out. They'll be out of the way but ready to go if we ever need to bail. We'll give the prisoners a week's worth of supplies for the road."

"Might not last a week," T-Dogg muttered.

"Their choice!"

"Did they really have one?"

"Hey! Hey, whose blood would you rather have on your hands? Maggie's, Glenn's, or theirs?"

"Neither."

T-Dogg walked away with a huff and I waited for Rick to have his hands free before finally approaching him. The others had already started moving cars around. Rick rested his hands on his hips and looked around the courtyard.

"You sure you're up for working?" He asked me.

"Yeah," I sighed with a nod. "There's nothing I can do in the cell block. Might as well lend a hand and help get things done around here."

"Well, if you're sure. How's your brother doing fixing up that generator?"

My brother's task for the past few days had been to try and get some sort of heat system working within the prison, as we had all the things that we needed to do it. With his knowledge of mechanics, he was chosen. He had told me that he would be going into the depths of the prison today to try and locate the boiler room where the generator would be situated.

"Fine," I told Rick. "He's gonna head out to the boiler room today."

"Huh," Rick nodded. "Better make sure he takes someone. Walkers will still be wandering around… I'll go and talk to him later."

I watched as Daryl stood at his motorcycle, Axel desperately trying to talk to him through the gates where he and Oscar were locked in. While they chatted, I hurried up to Daryl and prevented him from getting on the bike. He looked at me curiously and before anything weird slipped from my lips, like I feared would happen.

"Uh – good morning," I rushed out awkwardly, almost feeling myself internally cringe at my choice of words.

"Mornin'," Daryl narrowed his eyes suspiciously at me. "Except it's the afternoon. You slept like a log. All through yesterday and most of today."

"I… Yeah, well, it's the first proper sleep that I've had in a long time."

"Suppose you had an excuse."

Daryl kicked his leg over his motorcycle and sat down, lifting his hands to rest on the handlebars. I stepped aside so that he could start up the engine and pull away. He manoeuvred the bike over to where the rest of the cars were being set up.

There was a clearing of a throat behind me and I turned to see Axel and Oscar still standing there. I raised an eyebrow at Axel's puppy dog eyes, his hands curled around the mesh wire of the gate in a desperate, pleading way. It wasn't my choice to keep them there like that, but I had no say in the matter. Oscar remained stoic.

"I'm real sorry about what Tomas did to your face," Axel called out to me. "We ain't nothing to do with that."

"Her boyfriend ain't gonna be happy when he finds out that you're trying to get your way around his girl," Oscar said pointedly to Axel, a stern expression.

Axel grumbled under his breath and pulled away. I rolled my eyes and crossed over to them, standing on the other side of the gate. Axel's expression picked up with hope.

"I haven't got a boyfriend," I informed them.

"That redneck on the bike ain't yours?" Oscar asked.

"God, no. Just friends is all."

"Oh," Axel said with increased interest. "So, you're single, are you? I'm not sure if I've properly introduced myself before."

This man really was trying every route to get himself out of here. Oscar glared at the back of his head and I just held my hands up in surrender, wheeling away from the gate and jogging over to the last car to get it started up and positioned where the rest of the cars were.

The car stuttered as I started it up and it took a few swears and whacks to the steering wheel before it finally started rolling smoothly. I parked it up where the rest of the cars were, pulling the keys out of the ignition and slumping back in the seat. My hands scrabbled through the glove compartment and I pulled out the stack of CD's that had been left in here. This had been the car that my brother had always occupied, and he had always promised that he would get everything working properly in it again so that we could start listening to the music that he had found. I smiled as I shifted through the CD cases, thoughts and memories rushing back at certain album and band names. A lot of the artists here had been ones that my brother and I had listened to when we were younger.

I placed the CD's away again and got out the car. Daryl, Glenn and Rick were over by the fences, carrying wood inside from the prison. They pointed over towards the courtyard and I glanced over to see Hershel hobbling outside on his crutches along with Lori, Beth and Carl. I grinned at the sight of the tough, older man. He really stood by his word when he said that nothing was going to overthrow him in this life. There were a few wobbles as he moved, but he was perfectly stable other than that.

Smiles filled the camp as we saw Hershel. There wasn't one person who didn't look happy about seeing him back on his feet again – well, foot. But, it seemed that nothing could last long in this time, as a herd of Walkers suddenly appeared behind Carl. He yelled and Rick took off instantly towards the courtyard. The three men were moving as fast as they could, but they had to make their way round the whole of the fences.

I pulled my gun and ran in the same direction, moving uphill towards the courtyard. Lori shot a Walker while Hershel tried to get away as fast as he could with Beth leading the way for him. I reached the courtyard and joined Maggie, Carl and T-Dogg in the mass shootout that was taking place there, trying to get rid of as many Walkers as I could before they reached the more vulnerable members of the group.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hershel take down a Walker with one of his crutches. Hershel and Beth were locked in within a gated area, watching in concern from where they stood. I watched as Maggie, Lori and Carl also disappeared into the prison while Carol, T-Dogg and I continued shooting at the Walkers. I looked around desperately for my brother, but I couldn't see him anywhere. It was then that I remembered he would be heading out into the corridors to try and trace the generator. He was in danger, just like the rest of us.

Rick, Daryl and Glenn eventually ran through the courtyard. Havoc was caused everywhere and I could barely turn without seeing more chaos going down. The last thing I noticed before I entered the prison in search of my brother was T-Dogg getting bit. A gasp left my lips and I heard Carol scream, but there was no time to waste.

I was back in the main cell block, calling out to my brother, but he wasn't answering. He wasn't here. He had already gone, and I knew that. I knew that I should have offered to go with him before getting distracted by everything going on outside the prison. As I moved swiftly in the direction of the door that lead to the corridors, I heard an alarm go off, ringing out loudly. There was no way that this wouldn't attract a heap load more of Walkers. It wouldn't be safe going into the corridors alone when we hadn't even cleared out half of it, but I knew this was where Benny would be. I grabbed my pistol and armed myself with a knife in my free hand, pushing through the door and deciding to go ahead on my own.

My breathing came out rushed and shallow as I turned hastily round each corner, pointing my gun in each direction before continuing in a flat out sprint. Around the fifth corner that I turned around, not even knowing if this was the direction that my brother had taken; three Walkers were approaching at a solid pace towards me. It would have been a smarter idea to stab them down quietly but I wanted to move as quickly and safely as possible, so I shot each in the head. The noise would be sure to direct more Walkers to me, but I stepped around the corpses anyway and moved on through the dark corridors.

I could hear the echoes of my shoes slamming against the floor as I ran, mixed in with the blaring alarm. The noise was numb to my ears and I could barely even hear the Walkers approaching, or the gunshots that followed after on my behalf. Hopefully, if the others were in the corridor, they would have heard the shots. Then at least I would bump into someone along the way.

When I turned the next corner, I wasn't expecting to see what I did. Walkers were surrounded around a body on the floor, greedily eating with their hands, their faces covered in fresh blood. I clapped a hand to my mouth when I realised that the body was T-Dogg's. He must have helped Carol escape. I had definitely seen the pair of them run off together. While the Walkers were distracted, I moved past, guiltily leaving T-Dogg behind. He had become a good friend to me since joining the camp, and my breathing seemed even more laboured now after witnessing him on the ground like that, a bloody mess through and through.

It seemed that I was getting nowhere in the prison. The corridors all blended into one and the path I had chosen was as messy as my mind in the current circumstance. I heard a clatter in front of me and fell to a stop. Hesitantly, I started to creep forward with my gun ready in my hands. There couldn't have been much more ammo leftover in the clip, and I knew that there would probably only be two or three more shots that I would have left to make count.

Quickly, I turned round the corner and lifted my gun. Benny was standing above a Walker, a crowbar in his hand. It was covered in sticky blood and I realised that the clatter had been him slamming it into the Walker's head and pulling it back out again. We both stared at each other in shock for a few moments before he moved towards me and pulled me into a tight hug, giving me a quick squeeze before letting go.

"Thank God," I sighed. "I thought I was going to find you dead down here."

"I'm tougher than you give me credit for," Benny mumbled. "Is everyone okay? I heard the alarm go off when I was down here and then I heard a heap of shots."

"That was probably me. I had no choice but to use my gun. T-Dogg… T is dead, Ben. The Walkers got him. Maggie, Lori, Carl and Carol should be down here somewhere too. I don't know if the others are okay, though. Why did you come down here on your own? God, you're such an idiot!"

"Alright, alright, it wasn't the wisest of plans… T's dead?"

"Yeah… Looks like he sacrificed himself for Carol. He was with her last. We need to get out of here now, Ben. We can't go around looking for that bloody generator or whatever you were doing before this. We need to go and get back to the others."

"What makes you so sure that there are others to get back to?"

"Beth and Hershel were okay. They were boarded off. I know that they're okay."

Benny paused but he nodded, and we both moved through the corridors silently once more beside one another. I didn't know what I would have done if I'd found my brother dead. That would have been my breaking point, without a doubt. Benny had been beside me through everything since the start of this. I couldn't lose him.

We managed to kill off a few more Walkers before we finally heard the alarm stop. Both of us stopped in our tracks and looked around above us, waiting for the alarm to ring out again, but it remained silent in the corridors.

"It must have been powered up via the generators," Benny noticed. "I'm pretty sure that we're not far from them. Let's get back out into the courtyard, huh?"

I nodded in agreement and allowed my brother to lead the way. My weapon had been lowered as I felt the threat substantially drop since the noise had subsided. Our steps were slow and our feet dragged in exhaustion due to all the running that we had done, but neither of us stopped for one second, not even to take a breather.

Benny put his hands on the handle of the double doors that I had seen Maggie, Lori and Carl run through earlier, pushing it open. The bright light of the day made us squint as we emerged in the courtyard. I had thought that we would come back to peace and serenity, but if anything, the mess had picked up more.

Rick was on the ground, crying. In fact, almost everyone was crying. I glanced away from Rick to notice Maggie and Glenn. In Maggie's arms was a baby. Lori's baby. But Lori was nowhere to be seen around the group. I was speechless and my mouth felt dry as Benny and I approached. Everyone apart from T-Dogg, Lori and Carol stood around in the group. So, none of them had made it. A hand flew to my mouth and I bit down on my tongue to keep from crying out. I met Daryl's eye as he moved towards Benny and I.

"Ya got out alive," He looked at us both in disbelief. "We were just getting ready to come back, until… that."

"That," I looked over at Maggie and the baby too. "What happened?"

"I dunno. What happened to ya in there? Hershel said you ran off back into the cell block. Why didn't ya wait for me to get back? I woulda come with ya."

"Benny was alone. I needed to find him. I didn't have time to wait, Daryl, I'm sorry. So, Carol is dead too…?"

"Looks that way. T is and all."

"I know. I saw him when I was running through the corridors. I didn't get a chance to kill off the Walkers that were on him… Are you okay? What started the alarm?"

"We got to the generators. Andrew. He wasn't dead. He turned on the alarm. He's dead now, though, you ain't got nothing to worry about."

Sobs continued to feel the courtyard as everyone's tears watered the ground. We lapsed back into silence and I stared around at the broken group. There was truly no way that we could come back from this. We had lost two vital members of our group. T-Dogg, who had been my friend, and Lori. Although Lori and I hadn't always seen eye to eye, she had been there for me when I'd needed her. She didn't deserve to die. Nobody looked at the baby in resentment, though. If anything, the newborn was our one source of hope in this place.

**A/N: Okay, so since I'm going back to school tomorrow (boo), it will be a bit harder to maintain a daily update basis. I'll try though! Otherwise, it'll be a vague every-other-day upload. Hope that's okay! Thanks for reading:)**


	35. Chapter 35

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

There was a lot of chatter about the baby. I didn't really relate to much of it, as I knew nothing about babies. I'd practically raised my sister, but that didn't mean that I had a clear idea of what to do when it came to caring for one.

Rick remained crouched on the ground. It was complete hassle as we stood in the courtyard. Hershel had deemed the baby as healthy. I ran a hand through my hair and leant back against one of the rough brick walls. The heat had to be getting to me on this particular day, and I felt like I was seeing double of everything. I could make out Daryl approaching me from where he had been talking to the others in the group.

"I'm gonna make a run, get some formula," He told me. "Ya comin'?"

"Yeah…" I nodded. "Yeah, alright. Who else?"

"It was gonna be Maggie, but she's gonna stay behind with Glenn and keep things in order here. Let's move… I don't wanna leave them for too long."

I nodded in agreement and bid a quick goodbye to Benny before hurrying off after Daryl. He kicked his leg over his motorcycle and gripped his hands on the handlebars. I paused before climbing onto the back of his treasured bike, laying the palms of my hands against my thighs. Glenn ran up to the gate to open it for us as I adjusted the strap of my bag on my back which I had picked up from where I had dropped it earlier while out working around the prison.

"Ya might wanna hold on," Daryl warned. "I ain't gonna tell you again. Open 'em up."

Glenn nodded and unlocked the gates. The motorcycle suddenly kicked forward and I jolted before hastily gripping onto the side material of Daryl's leather vest. Despite everything that was happening, I could hear him laugh slightly over the noise of the loud engine. He insisted on being the silent killer, yet he rode around on this great rumbling beast. It really was quite ironic.

I relaxed after a few minutes out on the main road, glad that we were away from the stress in the prison. It would have driven me insane if I'd had to stay there for much longer. It was weird without Lori, T and Carol. It was a significant amount of people that we had lost. I knew that Daryl was feeling down. He had been close to Carol throughout all of this, especially due to Sophia, whether I liked it or not.

The wind whipped my loose hair around my face and I was caused to spit out various strands of stray hair which had jumped ship and caught in my mouth. Daryl moved swiftly on the motorcycle and I understood how he had managed to do so well through out all of this. Daryl Dixon was untouchable. He would always come out on top, I was sure of it.

"You know where we're headed?" I yelled over the noise.

"Maggie said there'll be a department store or somethin'," Daryl called back. "Look out for signs or whatever. We would have gone past it when we were on the roads. She said that you and her did a run there once."

"Yeah, I think you just keep going straight. You need to pull off somewhere. I'll tell you when."

The back of Daryl's head bobbed in a nod in front of me and he revved the engine, moving forward again. A few Walkers trailed lazily behind the bike but were nowhere near becoming a threat to us. I moved my arms silently to rest loosely around Daryl's waist. His head moved slightly and I assumed that he was glancing down at my clasped hands near his stomach. It probably was quite an unusual action to him. I was surprised that he didn't throw me off the bike and tell him to meet me there via walking.

Not long after, I noticed sign boards up with directions pointing to the big shopping centre where Maggie and I had passed a baby store and nursery on the first floor when we had been raiding for food and necessities for the group. I didn't know why we hadn't picked up formula and such at the time. It was stupid. We would have needed it at some point, no matter what happened.

"Over there," I nodded towards a large building now complete with shattered windows and a car park full of debris.

Daryl turned down the slip road and pulled up outside the shop, slowing to a complete stop. I clambered off the bike and hitched my bag higher up my back, looking around for any approaching danger. It was silent, compared to what it had been last time I'd been here, but I still gripped my gun in my hand in case it was needed.

"That it?" Daryl nodded at a store window.

Through the shattered window, I could see a pale yellow interior with toys scattered around on the floor. It looked like the crèche where mothers had once upon a time dropped off their children to pop around the shops. I sighed and nodded, following Daryl over to the remains of the window.

"I'll boost you over," He said. "Don't wanna risk smashing the door down. Looks quiet in there, anyway."

It wasn't really high enough for me to need a boost, but there was a lot of jagged glass remaining in the frame, and I couldn't really risk cutting and injuring myself anymore than I had already done so far in these past few days.

Daryl waited for me to get a foot lodged safely against the window frame before moving his hands to my waist and pushing me up so that I could move my other leg through without wobbling and catching it against any glass. I ducked my head under the window and lowered myself into the destroyed room, my shoes crunching on the glass shards that were littered on the floor beneath me. Daryl followed quickly behind me and I offered a hand out to him, but he ignored it and jumped safely to the ground without any hesitation.

"Too tough to need help, huh?" I smiled.

He scoffed, raising his crossbow and moving around the room. We exited the crèche and moved into the dark corridors outside, moving silently. I checked one side of rooms while Daryl took to the other. He disappeared behind one door and I slipped into a different room, my gun propped and steadied against my forearm. The room must have been an office of some sort before. I only guessed because of the single guess and a couple of upturned filing cabinets beaten and bruised with dents.

There couldn't have been much that was valuable in them if they'd been left in the way they had. Maggie and I hadn't had any intention to enter the nursery area when we had been here before. In fact, we probably hadn't even noticed it. All I could remember from that trip was a near death experience before Maggie had managed to swing an axe into the Walker's head that had tackled me to the ground.

Through an ajar door in the office, I heard light and slow footsteps treading. I raised my gun and crept over to the door, facing it fully so that I would be able to get a clean shot of the Walker that resided behind the frame. Just as I was reaching forward to push the door open, the door swung back and a crossbow was pointed directly in my face. I took a sharp intake of breath, stepping back and raising my hands in surrender. The last thing I would have wanted was to shoot Daryl. Or, really, to be shot by Daryl.

"If ya keep creeping around, I'm gonna keep mistaking you for a Walker," Daryl rolled his eyes as he lowered his crossbow.

"Hey, don't pin this on me," I stepped through the door. "I thought you were a Walker too, you know. What would you have done if you'd shot me, huh?"

"I woulda bailed and ran."

"Wow, thanks. It's nice to know that I've got someone looking out for me."

"I got your back, Annie… but I ain't nobody's bitch."

I laughed under my breath at his phrase, moving fully into the room which was easily a kitchen. My first instinct was to root through the cupboards on the walls above the counter. If anything was still left here, that's where it would have been. And one thing that should have definitely been left would be baby formula. Because, being honest, who decided that raising a baby in the time of the zombie apocalypse was the wisest idea?

Daryl kicked the doors open to the cupboards underneath the sink as I found three containers of baby formula, shoving them into my bag. I glanced over to the pantry door at the noise of a hiss. Daryl looked up too, pressing a finger to his lips and moving over to the door, wrenching it open and quickly pressing his arrow into the helpless wild animal that sat there.

"Hello, dinner," He grinned, moving over to me and opening my bag as it rested on my back, dumping the dead animal into it.

"Great," I muttered. "We need to find some clothes or something for it to wear and some nappies and whatever else that babies need, I don't know… Maybe it would have been best to bring Maggie."

"Ya really don't know this kinda stuff, huh?"

"I've never needed to know it. I never really intended on having any kids. Sure, I liked kids, but I would have never had time for my own. I was too busy looking after my younger sister to have time to start my own family."

"Is that why ya didn't have a boy?"

"I guess that was one of the reasons. Plus, I could never go out anywhere without getting lumbered with Susie. I guess it was more of a hindrance than a benefit to my social life."

We moved back into the crèche, going through the cupboards and picking up whatever we could find that we thought would be reasonably decent for raising a baby and chucking it into my bag. We covered Daryl's kill with a thin bit of cloth so that it wouldn't get mixed up with all the baby clothes and items.

"Ya don't talk about ya sister much," Daryl said as we messily and uselessly attempted folding up the small clothes to fit them in the bag better.

"No," I sighed. "Ma and her went down at the beginning of all this. They… Well, my mum was never the sanest of women. She shot me, then she shot my sister and then she turned the gun on herself. Susie didn't make it. That's why I had that gun wound when I first arrived at the rock quarry."

"Shit… I'm sorry, I didn't –"

"Don't worry about it none, Daryl, seriously. That was a long time ago now. What about you? You never talk much about your family. I only know about Merle."

"You're not the only one… I ain't ever really had much of a father figure other than my big brother. Our pop was always out on the drink. Used to beat us sometimes, but Merle took most of it for me. Our ma left in the early days. She had another man, she said. She tried to get us to come visit her but we never did. I kinda feel bad about it now. Maybe he was a real nice dude. Our ma was probably ten times better than our pop. Merle was gonna keep on the family business though, through the shit and the piss."

"The family business? You make it sound like you were an Italian mafia gang."

"Nah, but my pop was a crook and a half alright… He had this auto-repair shop. He was real good at fixing up the vehicles, like your brother."

"It seems we have more in common than we think. My dad owned a garage just outside of town too. Who knows? Maybe your old man and mine did business together a few times."

Daryl smiled vaguely in agreement and I closed my bag, standing up and lifting it onto my back. I made my way back to the window which we had climbed in upon entry again and Daryl boosted me back out before following. We climbed back onto his motorcycle and I wound my arms around his waist more comfortably this time, relaxing as I leant up against his back.

He didn't complain. He didn't say anything about it at all, so I guessed that he wasn't that bothered about how close I was. We backtracked towards the prison, the winds growing heavier as the day grew older.

The ride started off smoothly and could have easily continued that way, until we noticed a medium sized herd of Walkers blocking the road up ahead. The noise of the loud engine must have attracted them in our direction and we were probably what they were in the middle of hunting down right now. I grimaced at the sight of them as I glanced over Daryl's shoulder, shifting to retrieve my gun from the leather holster strapped around my leg that Rick had given me (for 'a quick grab').

"Don't," Daryl said as he felt my movements rocking the bike. "Hold on tight. We're gonna go straight through the middle of them."

"Are you insane?" I looked at the back of his head in disbelief. "We can't just drive through the middle of them! They don't think – they won't jump aside and let us pass in the fear of getting hit. They'll just keep coming at us. We can't risk it."

"I ain't driving around the whole state and back just to go five minutes up the road, Annie. Just hang on. Close your eyes, whatever, it'll be over soon."

"What happens if something happens? What happens if you crash the bike or a Walker grabs onto one of us or the Walkers block the bike completely, huh?"

"Shut up. I ain't gonna let anything happen to you. Do ya trust me?"

There was a moment of silence. Daryl turned to look me straight in the eye and I held his gaze. After a few more moments of the Walker herd staggering towards us, I nodded boldly. A very small smile flashed across Daryl's face and he turned back to face the Walkers, revving the engine. He really was just a boy playing with his toys.

I gripped my arms like a steel vice around his waist as I felt him surge forwards. My eyes were squeezed shut as I felt the wind blowing through my hair and slapping my face. The wheels of the bike were skidding beneath me. It took a moment to realise that Daryl was actually swerving the bike to miss the herd, rather than losing control and crashing us into a tree trunk at the side of the road.

Growls never met my ears as we were going so fast, and it seemed that we never slowed down. We had surely passed the Walkers by now, but we remained moving at lightening speed down the road in a hurry back to the prison. I knew why we were rushing and I understood that we needed to, but I wasn't all that desperate to get back to the mob depression that was the prison group.

As my eyes fluttered open, we were greeted with Carl pulling open the gates to the prison and allowing us back inside. I jumped off the bike quickly and hunched over with my hands on my knees, gagging slightly. A hand rubbed against my back in circles soothingly as I dry retched in the direction of the dirt on the ground.

"Ya okay?" Daryl asked in concern from above me.

"You ride like a maniac," I wheezed out, coughing. "Remind me to never get on a bike with you again next time you offer, okay?"

"Hey! That was a one time offer. Ya should have been grateful ya even got it."

I rolled my eyes at his serious words, pushing my loose hair from my face and taking in a deep breath of fresh hair. Daryl's face remained concerned until I smiled at him to show that I was alright and that it had just been a wave of nausea.

"Why don't ya wear your hair down more often?" He asked surprisingly.

"It would get in the way," I mumbled. "The last thing I need is Walkers reaching out and latching onto my hair. It would be easier to just cut it, really. I will when we find a decent pair of scissors. I'll hack it all off for my safety."

"Don't… It looks pretty like it is," He reached out and tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear before clearing his throat. "Uh… I'm gonna check up on the baby."

He pulled away and took off in a jog towards the cell block. I was blushing furiously to myself as I stood outside, my hand lingering against the hair that he had moved behind my ear. Jesus Christ. That man needed to sort out his communication methods.

I walked towards the cell block, the bag swinging in my hands as I pushed through the heavy door. Beth moved towards me instantly to take the bag and I assumed that Daryl had already given her the debrief about what we had. He seemed to be currently occupied as he shushed the baby and rocked her in his arms.

A smile lit my eyes as I watched him coo to the small child. She had stopped crying since being placed in his arms. It was no wonder, really. Daryl Dixon was really a big softie with a heart of gold.

"She got a name yet?" Daryl asked during mid-distraction.

"Not yet," Carl sighed. "But I was thinking maybe Sophia. Then there's Carol, too. And… Andrea. Amy. Jacqui. Patricia. Or… Lori. I don't know."

Silence fell among us as our thoughts flickered to the various women that we had lost during our time as a group. Beth finished fixing up a bottle of milk from the things shoved in my bag, handing it to Daryl. He guided it to the baby's mouth and grinned as she sucked on the bottle.

"You like that?" He cooed. "Huh? Little ass-kicker. Right? That's a good name, right? Little ass-kicker. You like that, huh? You like that, sweetheart?"

My heart melted at the scene before me. A small chuckle passed around the members of the group at Daryl's name for the newborn baby. It was shocking to think that this baby had been conceived today. That everything that had happened had all been today. I glanced around the group and noticed that Rick was the only person who was not here. My eyes met Benny's and he just shook his head, shrugging.

Daryl continued to rock the baby, glancing up and smiling when he met my eye. I must have been looking at him in a complete admiring way, as Maggie nudged my shoulder from beside me, giggling lightly under her breath. I rolled my eyes and shook my head at her before leaning closer so that I could whisper in her ear without anyone hearing what I had to say.

"Where's Rick?" I asked.

"I don't know," She sighed. "He went off into the corridors. Looks like he went with a vengeance, too. Swinging at Walkers the last I saw him. He's hurting, Annie. He's hurting real bad. He just lost his wife."

"I know… I know that he's in pain. We just can't lose another."

"No. No, we can't."


	36. Chapter 36

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

We sat in the cell block the next morning, picking at our breakfast. Beth rocked the newborn baby in her arms, cooing to her and feeding her the formula that Daryl and I had managed to get ahold of. Despite the beautiful new arrival, the atmosphere was still dull and dense considering our three losses, and also the absence of Rick. It was getting to Carl.

Benny sat opposite me, stirring oatmeal in the chipped bowl. He raised his eyebrows as I pushed mine aside completely. Usually I never passed up a chance to eat, especially in these conditions, but I just didn't have the heart to do anything right now. Benny sighed and mimicked my actions. Everyone sat around the block in silence. Beth was almost forcing a distraction upon herself so that she wouldn't have to also lapse in an unwanted and unwelcome silence.

"Everybody okay?"

Rick's voice surprised us all as he entered the cell block from the corridors. His face was void of emotion. He stood with his hands on his hips, glancing around at us all quickly and missing the baby quickly before resting his eyes solely on his son.

"Yeah, we are," Daryl grunted. "What about you?"

"I cleared out the boiler block."

"How many were there?"

"I don't know. A dozen, two dozen. I have to get back. Just wanted to check on Carl."

"Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies," Maggie offered, guilt still clear in her voice about the Lori situation.

She had told me what had happened last night in full detail. How she had had no choice but to put Lori through a c-section when they were locked up in the corridors. The woman had bled out and Carl had been the one to put her down fully.

"You don't have to," Rick shook his head.

"No, I do," She insisted.

"Everyone have a gun and a knife?"

"Yeah," Glenn stepped in. "We're running low on ammo, though. Maggie and me were planning on making a run this afternoon. Found a phone book with some places we can hit, look for bullets and formula. We cleared out the generator room. Axel's there trying to fix it in case of emergency. We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well."

"Good, good."

Rick didn't hesitate to depart from us when the plans had been fished out. Benny said nothing more. He stood up and picked up an axe and a pistol. With his mechanical skills, he had offered to go and assist Axel with fixing up the generator. I nodded at him as he passed, opening the door to the corridors and pushing his way through the dark where Rick had disappeared into not long ago.

I took the job of collecting up the bowls and washing them up in the tub of cold water that was propped up on one of the counters. The others started moving back to their cells in silence to find something useful to do. We really were lost without Lori and Carol. They had been the ones to take on the 'women' jobs. Sure, I had helped them out on many an occasion, but I often had other things to do. Now that Beth was busy with the baby and Maggie was prepping for a run, I really was in the dark doing this. None of the men would chip in, except Hershel, so it seemed that I would be the one keeping things in order around the place at least for today.

"Annie," Hershel said from behind me.

I turned around, drying my hands roughly on my stiff jeans and giving the older man my undivided attention. He propped himself up on his crutches, looking at me with sincere eyes.

"I'm going to go and talk to Rick," He explained. "Make sure nothing happens while I'm gone. I would trust anyone here with my life, but no one's in the right mind set right now."

"Of course," I smiled sadly. "Go and talk to him. Maybe he needs it."

Hershel nodded in agreement and hobbled off towards the door to the corridor. He had really gotten the hang of moving around. I turned back again and aimlessly stacked all of the bowls and plates that we had used, as if that would make a difference to the rest of the group. Sometimes a clean work space provided space for a clean mind. That's probably what we all needed right now.

I realised that I was now on my own in the main part of the cell block. Daryl had gone outside with Carl, Beth had taken the baby into her cell block to try and put her to sleep and Maggie and Glenn were getting ready for their run. I was truly alone right now. When being alone, it was dangerous. That was what gave you the time to think and to feel. I'd been trying desperately hard to push all thoughts and feelings aside in recent times, and it had worked so far. It had been good for me. I hadn't broken down in front of anyone. But with all the emotions bottled up inside, I knew that I would break at some point. And when I did, it would be bad.

Maggie and Glenn walked out from the cells and I glanced up from where I had been perched on one of the tables. It must have seemed like I was having a mental breakdown, doing nothing at all.

"You okay?" Maggie checked as she swung her bag over her shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm okay," I nodded and followed her and Glenn over to the door. "You two be safe out there, okay? The last thing we need is to lose anyone else."

"Tell me about it," Glenn muttered. "Daryl and Carl out there? We're gonna need someone to open the gates for us."

"Yeah. They're out there."

Glenn nodded and Maggie reached forward, patting my shoulder reassuringly before they both slipped outside. I shut the door behind them and groaned aloud to myself. Even Benny had deserted me. I couldn't help but feel that I wanted to talk to a particular person, even though it was an irrational idea. Daryl Dixon was hardly the man to discuss feelings to, but I just wanted – needed – to sit down and talk with him. To have him understand me. He'd been so sweet recently, and I really thought that out of anyone, he would be the one I could trust with my biggest secrets.

It seemed that the prison had become Piccadilly Circus overnight. I glanced up again as Daryl, Carl and Oscar entered and starting prepping themselves with weapons. I sighed and moved closer to them, tugging on Daryl's arm and pulling him towards me and away from the others. He looked at me curiously as he loaded up his crossbow.

"What're ya doing?" He asked.

"No – what are you doing?" I frowned. "I'm supposed to be keeping track of everything around here and everyone just keeps running off. What's going on?"

"We're gonna go check through the corridors, see if we can get a lead on Carol… We found her head scarf, so she mighta got further than we thought."

The words stung slightly but I nodded. I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly and glanced over Daryl's shoulder at Oscar and Carl.

"Ya comin'?" Daryl raised his eyebrows.

"Beth is gonna be on her own," I sighed and shook my head. "I can't this time. Just don't do anything stupid… 'specially not with Carl around. He's impulsive right now."

"Have I done somethin' to piss ya off?"

"What? No, no… of course you haven't. Where did you get that idea from?"

"You're being a bit snappy today is all… Alright, ya stay behind and keep an eye on Beth and the baby. We'll be back soon."

I pursed my lips but agreed with a hasty nod. There was no way that I could hold them back. It seemed that I was just trying to keep my small family tightly knit together so that none of them could break away and get hurt, but I'd managed to lose a majority of them in my worthless fight. They were dotted all over the place.

Daryl, Carl and Oscar all passed me and I went back to sitting with my head in my hands. There was no way that I could come back from this point. I was starting to believe that I was actually having a breakdown. I had reached my breaking point.

The baby's cries and wails from one of the cells echoing around the room made me tense and curl my hands into fists with frustration. It wasn't that baby in general, but simply the repetitive noise, which was driving me crazy.

Beth attempted to shush the child but her sobs continued. A baby in the middle of the zombie apocalypse really had been the stupidest idea ever. I almost felt like blaming Lori for it. It was unfortunate that I couldn't. In fact, I couldn't blame anyone for this simple occurrence of nature. That baby may have been the only light and hope that we had in this current world.

I chewed on a hangnail in anticipation, tapping my shoes against the floor and drumming the nails of my free hand against the steel table that I was sitting upon. It felt like an invisible clock was strung in the air, and I could hear the loud ticks of the time along with the baby's tears. I knew that I wouldn't be able to stand it much longer.

Eventually, after what seemed like days, I slammed my hand against the table and stood up, storming into the cell where Beth and the baby were sitting. Beth was rocking the small child in her arms, singing a soft lullaby to her. I paused and stood in the doorway, watching Beth with the kid. She was good, I gave her that. But of course, she wasn't skilled. The young girl had never had a child so probably had no idea what she was truly handling with. I was in the same boat as her. The only difference I had was that I had nursed Susie from a very young age.

"Let me?" I offered, approaching Beth and holding my arms out.

She nodded and eagerly handed the baby over into my cradled arms. I sat down on the bed beside her and swayed the baby gently in my arms. It took a few moments, but the feel of being under a different touch soon quieted her down due to her realisation. Beth watched curiously as I shushed the baby softly under my breath. It had been a long time since I'd even gotten close to a young child, so it was weird to be sitting here right now holding a perfectly healthy newborn baby. I just prayed that that condition would last long enough for us to salvage her life.

"How do you know what to do?" Beth whispered as the baby's breathing slowed down after around twenty minutes.

"I had a little sister," I said softly, smiling to myself. "I was fifteen years older than her. It was a pretty diabolical age gap, seeing as I was always ditched with her when I wanted to go out, but I've had a hand or two in handling babies."

The younger girl decided not to push anymore on the matter. She reached out and ran her hand against the smooth skin of the baby's forehead, smiling. It was nice to see such an innocent thing through all the chaos we had endured. She was the light at the end of the tunnel, in some sense. Except we were very far from the end of all this. It was weird to think that even this innocent little baby was infected. That she could easily become one of those things too.

Back in the cell block, I could hear the telltale signs of Hershel's crutches tapping against the floor. Beth jumped up and ran to greet her father. I set the sleeping baby down in the nest of blankets that Beth had put together for her, making sure that she was comfortable and safe. There was a crash of a door and the baby's eyes suddenly fluttered open again. I cursed lightly under my breath and slapped a hand to my head. Beth was leading Carl and her father back into the cell.

I glanced up. If Carl was back, then Daryl would be too. I moved out of the cell and in all my haste, almost knocked down a figure standing in front of me. Daryl raised his hands in surrender at my accidental attempt to charge right through him.

"You're like a bull in a china shop," He mocked. "Little ass kicker sleeping?"

"She was," I shrugged. "Until someone slammed a door shut…"

"Sorry 'bout that."

I rolled my eyes at Daryl and followed him out into the cell block, watching him lay down his weapons and sit at one of the tables. He motioned for me to sit down too and I took the place opposite him, resting my chin in my hands and watching him as he polished away at the crossbow. There was apparently nothing more important than a shining crossbow, even during the apocalypse.

"Did you find anything?" I asked once we had both completely settled down.

"Carol's knife," Daryl mumbled. "I'm sure she's out there, ya know? If she got that far, she has a fighting chance. She's way off from T."

"You can go looking again tomorrow. Don't beat yourself up about not finding her today. Sometimes these things take time."

"What, like Sophia? I ain't having that case on my hands again. I put my all into that and I got shit. Look where that took us as a group. I need to find her."

"Why are you so obsessed with always being the hero? Sure, it's fine to save lives and it's great that you want to, but you don't need to be there all the time. Heck, you can't be there all the time. If you could, I'm sure you would, but you can't."

Daryl's face screwed up in anger but he didn't raise his voice. In fact, he said nothing. I sighed and rested my face in my hands. My mind wasn't in the right place today. Everything I seemed to do come out as wrong. I couldn't even tell him what I thought of his search for Carol without sounding like a complete bitch. He wasn't the only one who wanted her to be alive, but he was the only one who wanted her to be alive this much.

"I'm sorry," I sighed. "I'm sorry, okay? I'm just having a really shitty day and I'm not in the mood to hear about everything that we've had to go through."

"My fault," Daryl mumbled almost inaudibly. "Shouldn't o' brought it up. I knew it was gonna upset ya. You're weird and emotional like that."

"Wow, thanks for the consideration… Do you miss her, then? Carol?"

"I miss her like ya miss T-Dogg. You were close with him, weren't ya?"

I looked down at the mention of T. Daryl grimaced. His tone had almost seemed off upon requesting about T-Dogg. I couldn't imagine why. T had been my buddy through all of this. Perhaps Daryl had thought something else, something irresponsible, had been going on… Maybe he was pissed off about it.

"We were good friends," I agreed.

"Ya seemed like more," He muttered, surprising me.

"So? You and Carol seemed like more than good friends, if you ask me. You brought her flowers – now I know why you're so upset. You loved her, didn't you?"

"Don't be stupid, Annie."

His warning made me back down after my harsh words were spat. The woman could possibly be dead and here I was talking terrible things about her. I lifted my hangnail to my mouth again and started chewing away.

"Ya shouldn't do that," Daryl said in a demanding manner. "You'll bite right through the skin at the rate you're going."

"Whatever," I carried on tugging at the loose nail.

Daryl sighed and stood up. For a moment, I thought he was going to walk away from me in my bitchy mood. Instead, he moved around the table and slid into the seat beside me, taking my hand in his hand and pulling it away from my mouth, pressing it against the cold steel of the table. Blood had dripped from the small cut from where I had been violently pulling.

"Told ya so," Daryl rolled his eyes.

He wiped away the blood roughly with a finger and then pressed his finger against the cut, his own skin absorbing the small amount of blood that pulsed out of the minor wound. I sat in silence, watching his concentrated face in awe as he focused on stopping the bleeding from my finger.

"Ya ain't stupid, so don't act like it," He told me, breaking the silence.

"Neither are you," I whispered. "So don't go running around and getting yourself into stupid situations. The last thing I want to see happening is you getting hurt."

"That really the last thing you want happening? Ya telling me that you're gonna be able to sleep safe and sound at night as long as I don't go playing the hero?"

"No, play the hero, do. Just don't be irrational. You can't save everyone."

"Only one person at a time, right?"

"Right. And you can start with saving me."

"… Saving you?"

"My finger, I mean. You can start with saving me… via the finger."

Daryl smiled and chuckled at my choice of words. Deep down, I knew that I didn't mean that. I meant my original statement. But I was too embarrassed to say otherwise. Daryl obviously wasn't ready for any of my advances, no matter how small, and I wasn't even sure if I was ready. A blush must have been flooding my cheeks due to my thoughts as Daryl looked up at me with a confused expression.

Eventually, he lifted his finger from my own and rubbed the blood away. I looked at the dry, crusted blood around my finger and shook my head mockingly.

"Dr Dixon strikes again," I said in amusement. "That's gotta be the line you're looking down when this is all over."

"Huh… Ya woulda probably been a good doctor. Patient and tolerant and all that."

"I don't know… I'm not exactly the most tolerant person. I have a temper when I want to use it, Daryl."

"Would ya be tolerant if I kissed ya right now? Or would you blame it on my emotions like back on the farm?"

I glanced up in surprise at his question, my mouth probably falling open from shock. A small smirk played on Daryl's face and I froze as he moved towards me. It was a dangerous place to do anything of the sort, especially with Hershel, Beth, Oscar, Carl and the baby just around the corner, but he advanced anyway, as if he had read my earlier thoughts.

His warm breath hit my face and I had to blink to myself a few times before I finally truly understood what was happening. We had kissed once before and that had been passed off as a mistake. A reckless mistake with no meaning behind it but guilt and awry emotions.

Just as his rough lips were about to make contact with mine, the door to the corridors slammed open. I flinched at the sudden noise in the silence, drawing back quickly and looking at Daryl's almost pained face. He avoided eye contact awkwardly.

"Oh, don't let me stop you," Benny called out.

**A/N: I suppose that this is just kind of a filler chapter so that I can include some more of Daryl and Annie's relationship before the next stage of the storyline comes into play aka Michonne and Merle :) Hope you enjoyed! Thanks for reading!**


	37. Chapter 37

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

"Is she bit?"

"Gunshot. Carl, get a blanket. Beth, water and a towel."

"All right."

"Here?"

"She's not coming in the cell blocks."

My head turned up at the commotion coming from outside the cells. I pushed myself up from where I had been sorting through and matching up ammunition to guns in my cell, moving towards where the rest of the group were gathered just outside the cell block.

A coloured woman was grabbing for a katana blade that Rick had moved hastily from her reach. She was injured, which I could see right away. Blood oozed from a cut in her jeans on her thigh. She had been placed on the floor, a furious expression on her face. I noticed that there was a basket full of baby formula nearby. I raised my eyebrows in surprise as I leant against the wall.

"We're not going to hurt you unless you try something stupid first, all right?" Rick told her sternly. You wanna tell us your name?"

Everyone had gathered around in concern. The woman remained in silence with a stoic face. My eyes wandered to the basket of formula that Carl had picked up. Maggie and Glenn had been sent to get the formula, and they still weren't back. How would this woman have known to bring that here as a peace offering, or whatever she was using it for?

"You wanna tell us your name?"

The silence remained loitering in the air. I looked around the room and noticed that Daryl still hadn't shown up. A sigh left my lips. Earlier, after Benny had interrupted us, Daryl had awkwardly announced that he was going to leave and continue his search through the corridors for Carol. I didn't really blame him. My brother had ruined everything in that one moment. Talking of my brother…

I glared at Benny from where he stood on the other side of the room. He raised an eyebrow at me and I just shook my head.

"We'll keep this safe and sound," Rick picked up the woman's blade when she remained unresponsive. "The doors are all locked. You'll be safe here. And we can treat that."

"I didn't ask for your help," The woman called as Rick walked in my direction.

"Doesn't matter. Can't let you leave."

Benny was the last to walk into the cell blocks, locking the door behind him so that the woman wouldn't be able to get in, although she wouldn't have been able to do much anyway with a bullet wound. Rick held the katana sword at arm's length, inspecting it carefully.

"What happened?" I asked him as we stopped outside the cells, Carl taking the basket of formula into where Hershel sat with Beth and the baby.

"She was outside the prison," Rick explained. "Carl was on watch when he pointed her out… She had the basket."

"Do you think she knows where Maggie and Glenn are then? They should have been back by now."

"I don't know… I hope so. I really do."

I sighed and nodded as Rick departed to go and see his children. Benny went to say something as he approached me, but I scoffed and turned on my heel, walking up the stairs to the perch and stepping over Daryl's mattress and into my cell. Benny persistently followed me, whining as he went.

"I'll go get him," He groaned as he slouched into my room. "I didn't mean to chase him off. I don't know why you're so angry though, he can handle himself."

"Fine," I rolled my eyes. "When he doesn't come back, I'll use you as the Walker bait to go and get him, huh? That sounds pretty good to me."

"Jeez, Annie… The apocalypse has not been kind to you."

My brother's serious tone dropped as quickly as it had started, a smile appearing on his face. I couldn't help but grin too. My attitude had definitely gone downhill, especially since being at the prison and losing Lori, Carol and T-Dogg so recently. Benny was sometimes there to cheer me up. Not very well, but he did an alright job of it when he had to.

"You think he'll come back with Carol?" I asked in an offhand voice.

"Maybe," Benny shrugged. "She's been gone for a few days now. If she's not back, she's either gone or she's seriously injured and nearing it."

I nodded in agreement. It wasn't that I didn't want Carol to be back here – I just didn't want Daryl thinking that I had been glad when he left to go and get her. He must have thought that I was relieved when he had stood up and pushed past Benny earlier. It had probably seemed like that, even in my eyes. I didn't want to chase him off, especially when he had been the one to make the advance. It was always one step forward and two steps back.

Benny informed me that he was going to go and relieve Oscar and Axel from their watch outside, leaving me with my thoughts. I listened to the echoes of my brother's footsteps and also the soft cries of the baby and Beth's helpless coos. Babies needed their mother, and this one was no different because of the new world.

My thoughts flickered to the woman with the katana blade and Maggie and Glenn. What had happened to our two campmates? It must have been something. Had they sent that woman to come to us? Our group was drastically thinning out as of recent times, and we really didn't need to lose two more people on top of everything else.

People would start to break and drop like flies. Rick had long passed his breaking point and the majority of us weren't far off from following behind in his footsteps. Heck, I'd witnessed a few wobbles of my own in the past few days and I couldn't even understand why. I'd always been emotionally strong. Even when I couldn't battle the same way as the others could, I never cracked under the pressure because I was made for handling it strategically and almost emotionlessly. It was like I didn't feel anything anymore. I just got by life doing what I had to do, a lot like most people now. The only thing keeping me grounded were the relationships in this group.

Along with the cries of the baby, a door was opening in the distance. I strained to hear before I realised that it was the door to the corridors. Daryl was back. It sounded like only one step of footsteps were present. The gates to the cell block opened and after a few moments, there were a few gasps. I rushed outside of my cell and leant over the bar of the perch. Daryl was standing there with Carol, hanging on for dear life, held in his arms.

"Thank God," Rick sighed in relief. "Thank God. How?"

"Solitary," Daryl answered gruffly. "Poor thing thought her way into a cell. Must have passed out. Dehydrated."

My jaw must have been hanging open at the sight of Carol alive. Daryl glanced up to the perch where my weight must have creaked on the metallic flooring upon movement, meeting my eyes. I smiled very briefly at him and nodded reassuringly. Carol would be fine and she would be healthy and she would remain alive. Hershel would be able to see to her easily. My own hand lifted to the stitches on the side of my face, running my hand against the bumps of thread rising from my skin. Carol would take a bit more work than a few stitches, but she would be okay.

The weak woman was deposited in her old cell that she had been cooped up in with Lori for the first few nights of being in the prison. I watched from the perch as Hershel dragged himself into her cell with his medical bag, seeing to her. Daryl stayed with her while she was there. I ran a hand tiredly across my face as I watched Axel and Oscar make their way inside from being relieved from watch.

"Is Benny alright on his own?" I called down to them as they came in.

"Fine," Oscar replied. "It's pretty much deserted out there. Not many followed after the sword wielding maniac."

I scoffed at his name for the woman. Surely she wasn't a bad person. After all, even if she had come in look of help, she had purposely brought the formula as some sort of sign of good will. She was a good person. Then again, my judgements hadn't always been the best in this society that we lived in. I'd made quite a few mistakes when it came down to who I could trust.

Daryl left Carol's cell to exchange a few words with Rick, most likely about the wounded woman outside the cell block, glancing up at me occasionally. He usually never made it that big of a deal when I was around but it seemed that he wanted to meet my eye. When he was finished with Rick, he took two steps at a time up towards the perch where my legs were swinging over the ledge, my chin resting on the bar. He didn't say anything as he rested his arms on the upper bar.

"She okay?" I asked softly.

"She's a fighter," Daryl mumbled. "She'll be fine. You okay?"

"I always am."

"Huh."

There was a pause as Daryl vaguely nodded at my comment. I sighed and swung my legs up, pulling myself up so that I was leaning against the bars next to Daryl. My mouth was dry and I couldn't think of anything to say to him. It was awkward, like a weird high school teenage crush. Neither of us could really spit our words out.

"So…" Daryl dragged out. "We're okay?"

"We're okay," I nodded.

I didn't know what else to say. All I could think of was how my brother had walked in on us. Would it have been awkward if we had kissed? Would Daryl had even gone off to search for Carol, bringing her back alive as a result? Or would it still be weird and odd, ending in probably another argument like it had done that one time on the farm? The weird thing was that, this time, I had actually wanted him to kiss me. I had wanted to feel his lips on mine and to know what he was thinking about it. But I hadn't done.

Rick whistled out to grab out attention from down below, motioning to where the black woman was still outside. Daryl and I exchanged one last forced smile before skipping down the stairs of the perch and following Rick out towards the woman. She rolled her eyes slightly at our entrance, but didn't turn away.

"We can tend to that wound for you, give you a little food and water, and then send you on your way," Rick offered as he stood above her. "But you're gonna have to tell us how you found us and why you were carrying formula."

"The supplies were dropped by a young Asian guy with a pretty girl," The woman answered surprisingly easy to his question.

"What happened? Were they attacked?"

"They were taken."

"Taken? By who?"

"By the same son of a bitch who shot me."

"Hey, these are our people. You tell us what happened now!"

Rick moved forward and moved to grab the woman. Although I knew how frustrating it was to not get the straight answers, I quickly stepped forward and laid a hand on Rick's shoulder. Daryl stood cautiously back as Rick glanced over his shoulder at me, nodding at me. I met the woman's eyes briefly before her own gaze flitted to the katana sword that Rick had laid on the floor.

"Don't you ever touch me again!" She snapped.

"You'd better start talking," Rick warned. "You're gonna have a much bigger problem than a gunshot wound."

"Find 'em yourself."

After the words that she spat out, she lunged forward to grab ahold of the sword. Nobody had a chance to stop her as her fingers curled around the handle, dragging it across the floor and allowing it to scratch shrilly as she pulled it to her body.

"Hey, shh… shhh…" Rick said calmingly. "Put it down. You came here for a reason."

"There's a town," She said after a pause, disarming herself. "Woodbury. About seventy five survivors. I think they were taken there."

"A whole town?"

"It's run by this guy who calls himself the Governor – pretty boy, charming, Jim Jones type."

"He got muscle?" Daryl asked curiously.

"Paramilitary wannabes. They have armed sentries on every wall."

"You know a way in?" Rick requested, nodding at Daryl knowingly.

"The place is secure from Walkers, but we could slip our way through."

"How'd you know how to get here?"

"They mentioned a prison, said which direction it was in, that it was a straight shot."

The telltale sign of crutches upon the floor signalled that Hershel was making his way into the room. He had his medical bag with him. I moved forward to take it off of him so that he could concentrate on balancing on his crutches as he approached the situation. The woman couldn't help but look slightly intimidated.

"This is Hershel, the father of the girl who was taken," Rick explained. "He'll take care of that."

Rick and Daryl left the room to discuss their plan with each other about getting Glenn and Maggie back. I paused for a few moments, watching as Hershel worked on the woman and her bullet wound. She met my gaze over his head and nodded at me in an almost strict manner. I returned the nod before leaving her and Hershel to it.

Our two leaders and Oscar stood together talking about tactics of how to get into this Woodbury place and out again with Maggie and Glenn unscathed. I approached them as they spoke about the weapons that they had prepared.

"I'll come with you," I said.

"No, ya won't," Daryl scoffed instantly, shaking his head and causing both Rick and I to frown at his unexpected outburst. "Can't risk another one of us getting hurt."

"So, what are you gonna do if one of you gets killed and you can't get to Maggie and Glenn? Just three of you and our new buddy out there… It's gonna be a shot in the dark if you want to risk it."

"She's right," Rick nodded. "We don't need her to stay behind. We're gonna need all the help that we can get. Besides, if Benny is staying… Well, we can't have two capable people doing nothing here."

"No," Daryl snapped again. "I won't allow it. No. I don't have the time to look out for her."

"Oh, as if I need you looking out for me," I rolled my eyes, suddenly feeling very irritated at Daryl's approach to this suggestion. "I can handle my own. And I've been doing it since the beginning of all this. You don't need to play hero."

"So, that's settled," Rick quickly interrupted before Daryl could argue. "We'll meet out by the cars with our weapons, alright? We're gonna have to drive some of the way before we ditch the cars."

I nodded in agreement as Rick left to go and talk to the stranger. Oscar moved away to go and prepare himself and I was left with Daryl glaring uncomfortably at me, but I was going to be persistent about this. I folded my arms across my chest.

"What was that all about, huh?" I demanded. "You think I can't handle myself, even though I've been on raids worse than this without any argument on your behalf?"

"It doesn't matter, it's not the same thing," Daryl's voice raised ever so slightly as he smashed his hand against the wall we were near. "It wasn't the same before then."

"What wasn't the same before then, Daryl? It's always been the same. Nothing is ever changing in this world. I'm not in any less danger than I've been in any other raids or situation, and neither are you."

"But I didn't feel the same way about ya before this!"

As my mouth was about to hurl a comeback at him, my eyes widened slightly. What did he mean? He groaned under his breath and quickly turned away from me, storming outside.

I hurried into the room where we kept the weapons, piling up on what I would need and trying to keep myself from thinking about what Daryl had said. There was no need to dwell on a mistake. Everyone said and did things when they were angry and upset. I was no different to him, and I understood where he was coming from. But my hear couldn't help but flutter in the slightest at the thought of his words perhaps being true, if I had interpreted them in the correct way.


	38. Chapter 38

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

I climbed into one of the cars along with Rick, Daryl, Oscar and Michonne, whom we had learned the name of earlier. Rick drove with Daryl sat up front while Oscar and Michonne sat either side of me. It would be cramped coming back with Glenn and Maggie, inevitably, but it would just have to work out. I only prayed that all of us would be coming back in one piece.

The others said goodbye to us in the prison yard before we pulled away, Carl letting us out of the gates and shutting them behind us. All of our weapons had been shoved in bags and dumped in the boot of the car. Michonne had also complied with placing her katana sword in the boot too. I was definitely glad about that one, because even if I trusted her, I wasn't keen on the idea of her sitting with a blade pointed in my direction. The woman was undoubtedly brave by getting up with a bullet wound and agreeing to come with us to lead the way to Woodbury. I admired her.

For the first few minutes, the journey was silent. A lot quieter than I hoped for it to be. Every now and then, I could see Daryl glancing at me in the rear-view mirror. We would catch each other's eyes at some point and hold eye contact for a few seconds before awkwardly breaking away and pretending that we hadn't even noticed. There were a few occasions when I felt a blush rise on my cheeks as my dark eyes met with his blue ones. But right now, I needed to put all feelings aside. We were here on a mission to save Maggie and Glenn, not a bonding session.

Michonne directed Rick down the road and he eventually stopped about a twenty minute walk away from where the mysterious woman said that we would be able to find Woodbury. All of us ambled out of the car and moved round to the boot. Daryl handed me a backpack and I smiled briefly at him before shouldering it. I had my pistol tucked in the waistband of my jeans, as always, and another gun in a holster on my leg. The bag that I had been given contained tear gas and some knives and ammunition. I wasn't worried about getting in and out of there as much as I probably should have been – or at least as much as Daryl was.

We left the car on the side of the road and as the sky started to dim, we began to trek through the woods to keep our arrival secret. I fell into pace beside Oscar at the back of the group. Michonne lead the way, Rick and Daryl's weapons aimed ever so slightly at her in case this turned out to all be one big ploy to land us in danger.

Only a few Walkers staggered past us, and Daryl put them down easily with his crossbow. I dragged my feet through the mud of the forest floor, cursing every time my boots seemed to sink in the material that lined my path. A couple of times, we had to be tugged out of the mud in the denser areas of the woods. It seemed like it had been a long time since I'd been choosing the woods as a path to get somewhere. That had always been the agenda on Hershel's farm. It wasn't so much anymore.

"There's a road up there," Michonne nodded towards where the trees started to thin out. "Then, we're right on top of Woodbury. Soldiers will be up on the wall on watch. We can't risk going out straight away."

"Then we won't," Rick agreed. "We'll carry on following through the woods until we can move out discreetly and hide behind something. Sound like a good plan?"

A murmur of agreement passed through the crowd and Michonne nodded, moving closer to the thinning of trees but remaining within the shadows of the woods. As I brought up the group, I noticed the road that she was talking about. Cars were upturned and litter collected in the street. It had once been a town. Then, I saw the makeshift barrier further along the road with a sealed off entrance. A few men were walking around on top of the wall with heavy artillery – and by heavy, I meant that they would take us down easily if they caught sight of us.

The skies were darker now and it was easier for us to sneak out of the trees and duck down behind an upturned bus, watching the wall. I crouched down, scanning along the top of the barrier and around the area to see if there was anywhere that we could make a clean run to. There wasn't.

"Get down," Rick warned all of us.

We watched the wall aimlessly for a few more minutes. I hadn't even realised that Michonne had briefly disappeared before she tapped on my shoulder, signalling that I should follow her as she had found another route. I motioned to the others and they nodded. Daryl made a gesture towards me and I moved beside him to appease him. At least then he wouldn't be going out of his way to keep an eye on me.

"Get in formation," Rick said. "No gunfire."

Our group followed Michonne quickly round the edge of the trees and up to the back of the street. We slipped through a fence with clipped wires and we suddenly found ourselves in the town. Michonne had mentioned a curfew, which explained why the streets were so empty. Quickly, before anyone saw us, we rushed across the street and into the first building, pushing the door shut behind us and slinking into the shadows, away from where the light shone through the window.

I sighed out in relief as we were within the confined safety of the building. Daryl looked at me almost accusingly at the sound of the noise. He was probably longing to say 'I told you so'. But what good would I have been back at the prison? Once upon a time, I was the mouse. I was the one who stayed behind and let everyone fight my battles for me. However, I wasn't that person anymore. Daryl needed to understand that.

"I thought you said there was a curfew," Rick turned on Michonne.

"The street is packed during the day," She answered. "Those are stragglers."

"If anyone comes in here, we're sitting ducks. We gotta move."

"They could be in his apartment."

"Yeah? What if they ain't?"

Daryl was clearly not in the mood to be mucked around right now. I looked almost guiltily at Michonne. She was a saint for even offering to help us. In fact, I was surprised that she did. Of course, there was probably something here in it for her, but it was still brave of her to risk coming back out here.

"Then we'll look somewhere else," Michonne said finally.

"You said you could help us," Daryl glared.

"I'm doing what I can."

"Then where in the hell are they?"

Rick quickly intercepted. I saw him exchange a few words with Daryl as I leant against one of the walls. Oscar had remained silent for a majority of the journey. This wasn't even his group and yet he was still here helping us. He didn't need to. I just hoped that everybody got through this unscathed. We couldn't lose anyone else.

A light shone through one of the windows and I soon realised that it wasn't just the moonlight. It was a torch. A hiss seethed out among the group and we stepped back, moving behind walls and crouching down slightly on the ground.

"I know you're in here," A male voice called out. "I saw you moving from outside. All right, now. You're not supposed to be in here and you know it."

The door creaked open and a middle aged man stepped in, examining the place as he dumbly idled across the floor. All of us were hidden out of his sight in the shadows. I saw Daryl and Rick motioning to each other. As the man asked once more again who was there, the men jumped out with their weapons aimed.

"Shut up. Get on your knees. Hands behind your back."

Daryl zip tied the trembling wrists of the unsuspecting man. He had dropped to the floor without any complaint and I was glad that he hadn't brought too much attention to the small building that our group were in. If we were to be surrounded in here, there really would be no way out. They'd kill us, or worse, take us alive.

"Where are our people?" Rick spat up close in the man's face.

"I don't know," Our captor's voice shook.

"You are holding some of our people. Where the hell are they?"

"I don't know."

In pure frustration, the butt of the gun was smashed down over the man's head and he was thrown outside of the building discreetly once more. We went back to pacing for a few minutes. Were Maggie and Glenn even here? I gnawed anxiously on my lower lip, tasting the steely blood settling on the ripped skin.

"We're gonna go round the back ways," Rick explained. "Go through the place where Michonne was questioned. We're gonna throw down some tear gas, get in there and get out as soon as possible, alright? Are you all with me?"

There was a nod from the few of Rick's team. Michonne located the back door of the building and we all filed out quietly behind one another, creeping around the back of the buildings where it was empty. However, it was not quiet. I could hear a commotion sounding from on the streets and I wondered if the citizens of Woodbury had found the man that we had chucked out.

It was hard to manoeuvre through the dark, especially when we were walking on uneven ground, but I followed the bulky shadows in front of me. Michonne was leading us to what seemed to be a huge steel container. We waited behind one of the buildings, watching as two men left through the steel doors carrying guns and joking and laughing with each other. They didn't walk away as far as we needed them to, though. They stood and hung around outside of the container.

"We need to distract them," Michonne's whisper carried. "If we can keep them busy for just a few seconds, we can get in there and get your friends."

"And how do you suggest that we do that?" Rick asked.

"Someone. No one will get hurt. We'll be quick."

There was a pause. The idea of distracting the guards wasn't too appealing, but I knew it was my turn to take one for the team. Maggie and Glenn most likely hadn't given up anything and would have kept us safe, even if it meant getting hurt, so I knew that I could distract a couple of guards for a few seconds to save them.

"I can do it," I answered. "As long as you're quick."

"Are ya insane?" Daryl snapped. "I can't have ya going out there and risk getting yourself killed. I don't want your blood on my hands – Ben will kill me!"

"Well, you're going to have to take the chance, aren't you? If you're quick, nothing will happen. I'll literally just make a clean break down the street and veer them off round back. They'll have no choice but to follow me. Even if I was a citizen of Woodbury, it's past curfew."

"It's the only idea we've go," Rick admitted reluctantly.

I nodded and shrugged my backpack off of my shoulder, shoving it in Daryl's direction. He hesitantly took it, but he knew that there would be things in there that I needed. I had enough on me to hold off a couple of guards, if necessary. I just hoped that it would remain at a limited number of guards.

"You don't have to do this," Rick reminded me as I moved to the front of the group with my hand resting on my gun holster.

"I do," I sighed. "We need to get Maggie and Glenn. Get in there, get them, and get out. It's as simple as that, alright? I'll run around and try to meet you back up at the upturned bus in front of the gates. That way we can get over it and on the other side."

Rick nodded in agreement. Oscar clapped me on the back in a masculine manner and Michonne shot me a strained smile. Daryl was avoiding my gaze completely. I sighed and paused in front of him, hoping that he would look up and meet my eyes. The last thing I wanted to do was run off and see him for the last time in a bad mood.

Eventually, he glanced up and met my eyes. I grinned mockingly at him and he rolled his eyes. Affection had never been my forte, but it was better late than never. I reached forward ever so quickly and pecked him on his scruffy cheek before drawing away. His eyes were surprised and I was even shocked at my own actions. He went to say something, but then just shrugged it off and nodded his head. He knew that he had to let me go and do this. I wanted to go and do this.

Then, without any hesitation, I started running. I ran directly past the two guards with only a few metres to spare between our bodies. There was an ignorant cry and as I pumped my arms and legs, I could hear footsteps behind me. Although I wasn't strong, I was fast. I was small and lithe and that had always been the bonus that I had had in any situation that I had been faced with a threat.

My group must have really followed the idea of only a few seconds, because I could already hear echoes and yells from within the container that they had entered. A couple of gunshots were fired from behind me and I involuntarily ducked, turning my head to see the two guards hot on my tail. A bullet had pierced through a lamppost in front of me. They weren't really the problem, though – the problem was that other people were leaving their homes and the guards on watch duty were finally starting to take notice. I briefly noticed the man that we had encountered earlier, still propped up on the step of the building, flocks of people starting to surround him and question him about what had happened and why he was in such a state.

Before anybody else noticed I was out in the open, I spun on my heel and aimed my gun at the two pursuing me. My bullet deliberately missed their heads, just skimming past, but it was enough of a warning for them to duck down and take cover. The last thing I wanted to do was to kill someone in cold blood. I couldn't even blend in with these people, and I could feel trouble rising the further that I went.

I slipped past a couple of street openings in the shadow. As I passed the next alleyway, a pair of hands reached out and grabbed me round the waist, yanking me into the protection. A hand clamped down over my mouth and I was all but ready to scream and kick bloody murder, until a familiar voice shushed me.

"Shut up," Daryl grunted as I smashed the back of my shoe into his shin. "Christ, woman! I try to help ya and ya go all Rambo on my arse."

"Don't sneak up on me," I retaliated sulkily.

He smirked ever so slightly at me and I returned the favour. That was when I turned to see the rest of the group standing in the alleyway. My eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Glenn and Maggie, who were now with them. I gasped under my breath at the sight of Glenn's bloodied and beaten face. He must have taken all of the blows for Maggie, and our entire group as a whole. We wouldn't be able to repay him for that.

"You're okay?" Rick checked as I kept my eyes on our two retrieved group members.

"Fine," I nodded. "I'm fine. Where's Michonne?"

"She's run off. I have no idea where… Thanks for doing this, Annie. You brought us some time. We're going to make a clean break to the fence."

"Did everything go okay back there?"

"It went as smooth as we could have hoped for it to go…"

There was an awkward silence and I noticed how Daryl was looking down at the ground almost grumpily. Guards yelled from outside on the street as they run around searching for us. We remained tucked away in the shadows, trying to silently plan our next move. We couldn't exert ourselves too much while Glenn was so injured.

"There's gonna be more of them," Daryl warned, gesturing his head towards the now seemingly bustling and noisy street. "We need to move."

"They're going to gun us down from the wall," I said, peeking out quickly. "When I was running past, most of them had already turned and aimed up. They know what we look like."

"How do they know?" Rick demanded.

"The guy from the building earlier… He was talking to people. I can only imagine what he was saying. These people know who they're looking for."

"Merle's gonna know who he's looking for."

My head lifted in shock at Daryl's words. Merle? His brother was here in Woodbury? Rick sighed and rubbed a hand on the nape of his neck. I had never met the supposedly terrible man, but this was Daryl's blood. He didn't deserve to be left behind. But then again, I had no idea what he was capable of. Both Glenn and Maggie looked bitter at the mention of his name and I couldn't help but assume.

It was decided that more tear gas was going to be dropped and that we were going to run through the smoke and towards the wall. All of us had our weapons out and ready. It was hectic out there, and I knew that it wasn't going to be easy. Just as Rick was about to make his move, Daryl spoke.

"You guys go ahead," He said. "I'm gonna lay down some cover fire."

"No, we gotta stay together," Rick voiced my opinion.

"Too hairy. I'll be right behind you."

Our leader nodded in agreement and hastily set off the gas, calling for us to follow him. I turned and stared at Daryl in a panicked state for a few moments.

"I let you go earlier," He reminded me gruffly. "Ya get out safe, and I'll follow. Stay with Rick. Go."

He pushed me in the right direction and I nodded before tearing off after the rest of the group. Instructions were being called from ahead by Rick and I followed the sound of his voice aimlessly. It seemed that we weren't getting anywhere through the thick haze of smoke, and I was constantly scared that someone would jump out and grab me and take me down before I could make a sound.

As the smoke started to clear, I guarded the bus that we had reached that was pushed up against a relatively free area of the wall. Oscar boosted up both Glenn and Maggie first. Rick was up ahead shooting down our enemies and I stood in front of the bus, following his lead and taking down the closer targets. Briefly, through the clearing fog, I could see Daryl ducked behind a bench laying down fire for us. This could make him or break him, and I was just praying that I would see him again. All of this danger and adrenaline and suddenly rushed an increase in my feelings for him.

A tall man suddenly pushed his way through the smoke and shot. Rick took him down quickly, but it didn't stop the bullet that was already sailing through the air. My hair spun around my face as I turned and noticed Oscar climbing on top of the bus with the help of Maggie. There was no time to yell as the bullet planted itself into Oscar's stomach. Maggie screamed for Rick and our leader turned, watching as Oscar clutched at the blood spreading quickly on his shirt, slipping from the bus and onto the ground below. My gun was lowered as I watched the man sink down into the grass in his muddy grave. Maggie sobbed, but continued to climb over the wall to greet Glenn on the over side. Rick motioned for me to move. I paused and moved forward to look for Daryl, but Rick had already grabbed onto my arm and pushed me towards the bus while we had a free space of no one shooting directly at us. He gave me a boost and I heaved myself over the wall, dropping down and checking that both Maggie and Glenn were okay. The last thing I heard was Rick yelling for his friend and Daryl replying 'go'.


	39. Chapter 39

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

Daryl didn't return over the wall in those next few minutes. We had retired a bit away to safety in the trees, but Daryl was no longer with us and nor was Michonne and Oscar. Glenn was hunched over the floor with Maggie cradled to his chest and I stood at the edge of the trees with Rick. We hadn't even managed to get everyone out. I could understand losing one person, but three? We had lost three.

My mind was a whirlwind of emotions, and I didn't quite know which to focus on. I wanted to cry, but I knew that now was not the time. We knew that Oscar was a lost cause, but Daryl may not be. In fact, Daryl was most likely not. And Michonne? Although I had trusted her, she wasn't my priority. She could definitely handle herself. She didn't need us playing the hero. I doubted she even wanted us to.

"We're gonna go back in," Rick announced.

I rooted through my backpack and realised that we didn't have much left. Most of my limited bullets had been used up in making sure that Glenn, Maggie and Oscar got over the wall, and I hadn't even managed to succeed in that.

"Annie, I need you to get back to the car and clear the area," Rick said.

"What?" I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "I'm not saying that Glenn and Maggie aren't capable enough of going back, but haven't they been through enough?"

"Exactly. I don't want them getting caught up in anything on their own. Sure, it's a long run, but they can hold out for me. I need you to do this, Annie."

We both glanced over our shoulders at Glenn and Maggie. They had both straightened up. I sighed, but nodded in agreement. Rick always made the best judgements in the group, and I wasn't going to start questioning him now. If he thought that was the right thing to do, then I agreed wholly with him. He would get Daryl back to me.

I took both of my guns and handed Rick over the rest of the things that we had brought out with us, which I had been keeping ahold of to make sure that they didn't get lost. He reminded me where we had left the car.

Once again, I split away from the group and trudged my way quickly through the dark woods, locating my way back to the road where we had left the car. Perhaps it wasn't the wisest idea to be moving so late, but I didn't really have an option. Besides, the sun was going to be coming up soon. I trusted myself enough to not lose my bearings, or my wits, while I was out on my own. However, I was surprised that Rick had also installed this trust on me. I'd always been loyal, but not the most reliable when it came to handling situations. There had been a few times where I had ditched the gun and made terrible decisions, even when I'd been told not to do what I had done beforehand.

After what seemed like hours of walking, and only one Walker kill, I was coming out of the other side of the trees. It must have been extremely early hours of the morning, because I could vaguely see the sun starting to streak the greying sky. The car was safe, despite a couple of Walkers trying to get inside most likely because of the strong scent we had left behind in the packed vehicle. I regretted not bringing a silent weapon with me, but lifted my gun and shot down the two Walkers anyway.

When they had been deposited in a ditch beside the road, I clambered into the car and reached into the glove compartment, checking for the car keys. It would have been stupid for someone to steal them and not the car, but it wouldn't surprise me anymore. The keys jangled in between my fingers as I slotted them into the ignition and left them hanging here. As time passed, the sun rose higher in the sky.

I had never been a massively religious person, but I found myself praying in the early hours of the morning. I was praying for Daryl to come back to us. I was praying for the whole group to make it back safely. I was praying that the remainder of the group at the prison would be safe and fine when we got back. I was praying for all of this to be over.

But, of course, it was pointless. My mother had always told me that it helped to pray, no matter how big or little the request was, but I couldn't see it. She had prayed, and her life hadn't exactly turned out right, had it? She had gone mad. This world had got her. This world had caught most people up, and that was what was unfortunate. No matter how fast you ran, you couldn't outrun your fate.

I chewed anxiously on a hangnail as the sky started to fade from grey to blue, waiting for the arrival of my group. It would of course be harder for them to make it back with Glenn and Maggie in tow and also with whatever condition Daryl was in, but that didn't stop me from believing in them. Perhaps I would have been baggage.

Eventually, I saw a rustling in the trees. I readied my gun just in case, but I was certain that this was going to a positive arrival. And, I was right. Rick emerged first with Maggie, Glenn's arms propped around their shoulders. Behind them, Michonne was still slightly limping, her katana sword drawn. My eyes then lingered on Daryl. He was fine. He was okay. Perhaps my prayers had been listened to.

I opened the car door and rushed forward to greet the rest of the group, meeting them halfway across the road. After briefly nodding at Rick, I continued moving until I was in front of Daryl, throwing my arms around his neck and burying my face into his chest. He froze for a moment in surprise, but hesitantly moved his hands to my lower back, patting me awkwardly. He was fine. He was actually fine.

"God, I'm glad you're okay," I breathed out.

"I ain't stupid," Daryl rolled his eyes ever so slightly.

"Oh, yeah? You tell me that I can't handle going off by myself… but when you do, you don't even come back! Let's just think that one through, huh?"

Daryl smirked as I released him. I was so glad that he was okay. My life wouldn't have been the same if he hadn't have made his way back to us.

"You didn't tell me about your little girlfriend," A husky voice said sarcastically.

I glanced over Daryl's shoulder and noticed the new addition to the group for the first time. Daryl tensed slightly as I met the eyes of the man. The only thing I could really register was his lack of hand, and his replacement sword. Instantly, I knew who it was. The man standing before me was Merle Dixon.

"Well, looky here…" Merle smirked. "Daryl ain't picked up too bad a catch, eh?"

"Shut up, Merle," Daryl growled slightly.

Merle grinned at his brother's annoyance, sauntering towards us as we stood in the middle of the road. He looked me up and down very briefly before holding out his hand – his only hand, in fact. I glanced at it for a few seconds before clasping it in my own. He shook my hand roughly and I frowned at his greeting. Wasn't an introduction sufficed compared to a handshake?

"I'm sure ya've heard all about me, sugar tits," Merle smiled as I cringed at the nickname that he had christened me with, much to Daryl's annoyance. "Merle."

"Annie," I replied vaguely.

He nodded, looking slightly bored with our conversation already. I couldn't help but narrow my eyes at him. He was Daryl's blood, and I respected that, but I didn't doubt the group's reasons for handcuffing him to the top of that roof in the first place.

"Yeah, I know who ya are," Merle said. "I saw… Ya shot down two of our men just like they were Walkers. Nice, clean headshots… Ya ain't a bad catch at all."

I noticed that Rick motioned to Daryl to talk to him. The last thing I wanted was to be left alone with Merle, so I quickly nodded at him and walked over to the car. Glenn and Maggie were leant up against the boot and Michonne was sat in the passenger seat, the door wide open as she stretched out her legs in front of her. The woman was still a mystery to me. Where had she gone back there in Woodbury? She couldn't have just departed and left without knowing what she was doing, even though she had told us that she was coming back to help us. I just didn't understand. Although, I was grateful that she had helped us. We wouldn't have even been able to get here without her help and guidance. But, it seemed that Rick's plan of cutting her loose, just like Randall, had not gone in the right direction.

As Rick and Daryl talked, I noticed Daryl glance over at me a few times with an almost guilty expression on his face. They were speaking in hushed tones as Merle remained his distance on the other side of the road.

I wandered over to where Glenn and Maggie had joined the conversation. Daryl dropped whatever he had been saying but picked up again when I paused in front of him with a suspicious look on my face.

"So you're gonna cut Merle loose and bring the last samurai home with us?" He said bitterly, jerking his head in Michonne's direction.

"She's not coming back," Rick frowned.

"She's not in a state to be on her own," Maggie spoke up. "She did bring you guys to us."

"And then ditched us."

"At least let my dad stitch her up."

"She's too unpredictable."

Rick's resentment for the woman was clear. She could probably hear us since she wasn't sitting that far away. I caught her eye as I watched her for a few moments. She nodded at me and I returned the favour. She wasn't bad at all in my opinion.

"That's right," Daryl picked up on Rick's point. "We don't know who she is. But Merle, Merle's blood."

I soon realised what the meaning of this hushed argument was about.

"No, Merle is your blood," Rick shook his head. "My blood, my family is standing right here and waiting for us back at the prison. And you're part of that family. But he's not… He's not."

"Man, y'all don't know. Fine. We'll fend for ourselves."

It took me a second to realise that Daryl was being serious. He was intending on leaving all of us behind to go out there and stick by who his brother? Sure, his brother had been there for him, but we had been there for him too. We'd always been there for him, without a doubt. Why was he choosing his brother over us now? It wasn't an argument of blood at all. It was an argument of affection.

"That's not what I was saying," Rick amended.

"No him, no me," Daryl bargained.

He met my eyes over the top of Rick's head quickly and I understood what all of the guilty looks shot at me had meant. He had been expecting this decision, and he had known what option he was going to choose. I couldn't help but feel betrayed. But then again… If my brother decided to up and leave the group, I would too. I loved the group as my own family, but my brother was my real family. You could never forget real family. And that was why I could see where Daryl was coming from.

"It was always Merle and I before this," Daryl shrugged.

"You're just gonna leave like that?" Rick said in disbelief, glancing over at me in the hope of receiving some back up in the sudden situation that had appeared.

"You'd do the same thing."

"What do you want us to tell Carol?"

"She'll understand."

I felt more bitter at the mention of the older woman's name, rather than the whole idea of Daryl up and leaving. He moved to the boot of the car and heaved his bag out of the back, swinging it over his back and shouldering his crossbow.

"Say goodbye to your pop for me," He said to Maggie.

"Daryl, are you serious?" Rick stopped him. "Hey, hey… There's got to be another way."

"Don't ask me to leave him. I already did that once."

"We started something last night. You realise that, huh?"

"No him, no me. That's all I can say. Take care of yourself. Take care of lil ass-kicker. Carl… He's one tough kid."

Even Glenn tried to stop Daryl, but he had already made up his mind. I looked at Rick meaningfully, jogging after Daryl as he walked towards Merle. I reached out and grabbed Daryl's upper arm, turning him around to face me fully. He glanced down at me awkwardly, shuffling his feet against the ground.

"You were gonna leave without even saying a proper goodbye, huh?" I raised my eyebrows at him.

"Wouldn't think of it," He smiled slightly. "Ya ain't coming to stop me, are ya?"

"No… No, I understand, Daryl. I know why you're doing this. I'd do the same if it was Benny, you know that. We can't stop you from being with your brother. If I could call the shots, I'd allow him back in the prison, despite what he's done. He could change, I know. But you and I both know that Rick can't be swayed."

"Yeah, I know, I know… Wishful thinking, huh? Don't forget about me though, right?"

"It's funny… It doesn't seem like that long ago you were telling me that you didn't intend on ditching me any time soon."

Daryl avoided eye contact with me guiltily and I smiled wistfully. This was evidence that not all good things could last in this dark and dismal world. To avoid any more of a guilt trip, Daryl wrapped his arm gruffly around my neck and lowered his head, pressing a chaste kiss to my forehead.

"Now, don't go running into any trouble," Daryl warned.

"Who are you? My dad?" I laughed lightly at his strict and honest tone.

"Haha… I'm being serious, Annie. If the situation is bad, ya leave. I don't want ya getting hurt now that I'm not around to look out for you."

"Oh, because my life was all about Dr Dixon playing the hero, wasn't it?"

"Of course. Take care of yourself, Annie. I'll see you soon, alright?"

"Don't say that."

He pulled away and looked at me in confusion. I could feel tears slightly brimming in my eyes at how sentimental our chat had become. I laughed quickly and wiped the tear marks roughly away from my cheeks.

"Why not?" Daryl asked.

"You shouldn't make promises that you can't keep," I sighed at the slightly crestfallen look on Daryl's face. "I want to see you soon, of course I do. But I don't want to get my hopes up. If you find a better life out there, don't come back for us. Just… you take care of yourself, okay? I have other people. You need to be on the ball."

"It wasn't a promise, Annie… It was a swear to you. It can't be broken."

I smiled and nodded my head. Daryl grinned down at me, but the action didn't reach his eyes. Merle called out impatiently for him and I glanced over Daryl's shoulder to see his brother with his hand on his hip.

"Go," I pushed him away slightly. "I guess I'll see you soon."

"Yeah… Yeah, ya will… I'll see ya soon."


	40. Chapter 40

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

The car journey back towards the prison was what allowed the time for everything to sink in. All of us were mulling over what had happened. We had lost one of our group members, but not in a way that we would have expected. He had willingly detached himself from us. And it was a scary thought, to know that anyone could do that at any time, even when we needed a full group so desperately.

Rick's knuckles were white as they curled tightly over the steering wheel. Michonne sat beside him with a monotone expression. Rick had warned her that we would sort out her bullet wound and then that would be it – she would be out. She didn't look upset, or scared, but just bored in a sense. I could tell that Rick was angry about everything that had happened from Glenn and Maggie to Daryl.

Glenn and Maggie sat beside each other in the back, Maggie's face buried into Glenn's chest and his arms wrapped tightly around her. I sat beside them with my forehead resting against the cool window, staring out at the scenery around us as we whizzed past. There had been talk of us going back and ending everything the Governor had set up now that we knew what he was all about, but that was the last thing I wanted. He had ruined our group already, and what was to say that he wouldn't further those actions and burn us to the ground?

We pulled back into the prison after Carl opened the gates and rolled up to where the rest of the cars were parked. I got out immediately and grabbed my bag from the boot before storming up ahead towards the prison. There was no point in hanging around. I would have to get into the flow of things as soon as I could so that there wouldn't be any time for me to feel sad. That was the last thing I needed.

The door of the prison creaked as I shoved it open and walked into our cell block. However, I was met with something else that set my mind into a frenzy. Four new people were sat along with Hershel, Beth, Carol, Axel and little baby Judith, whom Carl had named just before we'd gone out to Woodbury. There was a black man and woman and a white man clutching onto a teenage boy, whom I gathered was most likely his son. My eyes very briefly gazed over to Axel before I dropped them to the ground. I wasn't going to be the one to tell him about Oscar.

"We don't mean any harm," The coloured man stood up with his hands raised. "We just found ourselves here… We're not here to cause any trouble, I promise."

"I'm not the one you should be talking to about that," I said softly, shrugging my shoulders at him.

The man nodded and sat back down on the bench. Hershel looked at me curiously. He wanted to know how his daughter was, of course he did. I nodded my head.

"Maggie and Glenn are fine," I told them. "They're okay. We got them out of there."

He smiled in relief and looked around the cell. Benny wasn't here. I could only assume that he was down in the corridors working on the generator again. He'd been putting his all into it for such a long time now.

"He is," Hershel confirmed, as if he could read my thoughts. "He's also securing up any areas that… that Walkers could possibly make their way through."

"Where did you guys come through?" I asked the four new people curiously.

"There was a blown down bit of wall round the back," Their male leader spoke. "We just climbed over it and made our way into the prison. I didn't think anyone would be in here, if I'm honest."

I just nodded at his words. The door behind me opened again and Rick, Carl, Michonne, Maggie and Glenn came in. After the door had shut there was a moment of silence. While the group who had just entered stared accusingly at the new people, the stay-home group all looked around for Daryl and Oscar.

"I'm Tyreese," The main man spoke in a calming voice.

Rick hadn't been in the calmest of moods earlier and when everyone had learned about what had gone down at Woodbury, they had all joined him in his frantic behaviour. I chewed my lip nervously as we all sat around, listening to Rick talk to them. None of us could tell how this was going to go.

"Sasha, Allen, Ben," Tyreese introduced the rest of his people.

"How'd you get in?" Rick asked.

"Fire damage to the administrative part of the prison. Wall's down."

"That side's completely overrun with Walkers. How did you get this far?"

"We didn't. We lost our friend Donna… I'm sorry about your friend. We know what that's like. Hershel said that you could use some extra hands. We're no stranger to hard work. We'll go out and get our own food, stay out of your hair. You got a problem with another group; we'll help with that, too. Anything to contribute."

It seemed that I'd perhaps turned too soft in this world. When anybody said that they were trustworthy, I instantly fell into the game and nodded my head. Yet, I'd always managed to be right to some extent. I'd strayed away from Tomas and I'd leaned towards Michonne, even if there had been a few off moments. These people didn't seem bad at all. I was slightly less inclined towards Allen and his weird, menacing stare, but then again… He had lost his wife. I'd lost Daryl only recently, even though he was still alive – or so I hoped. Perhaps Allen saw me as I saw him.

"No."

Rick's blunt answer surprised us. We all reeled back slightly at his cold tone. Hershel shook his head. I knew that he was right. This group could help us. It was better than them turning against us like the Woodbury people had been made, or at least taught in their case, to do.

"Please," Sasha begged. "It's like '10 Little Indians' out there. It's just us now."

"No," Rick put his foot down.

"Let's talk about this," Hershel intercepted softly. "We can't just keep –"

"We've been through this," Rick snapped. "With Tomas, Andrew. Look what happened."

"Axel and Oscar weren't like them."

"And where's Oscar now? I can't be responsible."

It hurt me to know that Rick was blaming himself for everything that had happened to our group. All of those things had been honest mistakes. None of us could have stopped them, no matter how hard we tried. Rick had saved all of us in some way or the other. No one here was to blame for what had happened.

"You turn us out, you are responsible," Tyreese warned.

"Rick," Hershel said strictly. "You've done so much for us. I appreciate that. We all do. We owe you are lives. We've done everything you asked without question. And I'm telling you, you're wrong on this. You've got to start giving people a chance."

Rick's head turned and he looked up towards the perch in the cell block. I followed his gaze but I saw nothing. We all followed his gaze but then turned to look at each other in confusion when we saw him staring at absolutely nothing with pleading, desperate eyes. He was dead to this world.

"No," He begged. "No, no, no, no. No, no, no, no. Why are you here? What do you want from me?"

"Dad?" Carl asked nervously.

"Why are you…" Rick looked up for a few more moments before turning around suddenly and screaming. "I can't help you. Get out!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Tyreese stepped back quickly.

"Get – get out!"

"Hey, come on. Whoa, it's all good…"

"You don't belong here! Get out! Please!"

I couldn't tell whether Rick was talking to Tyreese and his group or whatever it was that he had previously seen standing before him. The others tried to coax and soothe Rick, but it seemed like it was no good. He was a lost cause right now. Rick continued to scream at the group. I caught Tyreese's eye and shook my head solemnly with a fraction of guilt as our group and his alike both stared in shock at Rick.

"We'll leave," Tyreese said. "We're going. Okay? Ain't nobody got to get shot here We're going."

"What are you doing here?!"

"Okay, we're going."

"Just go! Go! Go!"

Tyreese quickly lead his group away. I didn't think that was the reason behind Rick's yells. He glanced up at the perch every few moments. It was simple and plain enough to see – Rick was going mad. Everything that had happened was causing him to crash and burn. He'd held out too long, and now he was on his way down. His original breakdown after Lori had passed was just a taster for this.

I left the block to go and retrieve my older brother from the corridors. There was no need to explain to anyone, because we all knew that me going off wouldn't be the problem anymore. The problem was restraining Rick.

I walked through the corridors with my hand lingering on the holster on my leg. But I knew that there wasn't much left here to worry about seeing as we'd cleaned out practically every Walker nearby during our time here. I walked towards the area where Tyreese had said that his group had got in. Benny would most likely be there, fixing it up as Hershel had said.

My feet felt heavy as I dragged them along the floor. They were heavy with exhaustion, and my heart was heavy with guilt and loss. My thoughts never strayed from Daryl and I prayed that he was alright. Of course he would be, though. Merle and he together were probably quite the kicking team. They would be fine.

When I reached the area that Tyreese had mentioned, without any contact with a Walker, I noticed my brother sat up on the crumbling rock wall. He wasn't even doing anything. He was just staring out at the back prison grounds which were filled with staggering Walkers. I stepped softly towards the wall, heaving myself up on top of it and swinging my legs over like Benny had done.

"There's not much that I can do," Benny explained without even glancing at me. "I don't think we have the equipment to do anything. This is a big area to secure."

"They're gone," I told him. "Tyreese and his group. Rick's having a mental breakdown back in there."

"Huh… I was kind of expecting it. You can never hope for the best, right? So… How did it go? Did everyone get back safely?"

"We got Maggie and Glenn out pretty easily. But, we lost Oscar on our way out. He was shot down by one of the Woodbury men. There are heaps of them. There wasn't going to be any way in hell that we would have all gotten out safely. We did the best that we could, but we couldn't save him."

"It's not your fault. It's nobody's fault. Everyone else got out okay, though?"

I paused. I hadn't wanted to mention Daryl at all, especially seeing as it hadn't even really been a day. Also, my brother was sure to pick up on why I was really down if I brought up his name, but it seemed that I wouldn't have a choice. It was going to be noticed if he went back to the cell block and Daryl Dixon wasn't there.

"No," I shook my head. "Daryl didn't."

"What? What happened?" Benny looked at me in concern.

"He found his brother in Woodbury. He decided that he was going to take off with Merle, seeing as his brother was banned from coming back here and jeopardising everyone else's safety. He chose Merle, Ben… He picked Merle over us."

Tears were leaking from my eyes and I couldn't understand why. I had willingly let Daryl go because I could understand, and I still did. But now that I really understood, I really missed him. In a way, I almost felt betrayed that he had chosen Merle over us. But I couldn't. I knew that I couldn't.

"Hey," Benny said in a soothing voice, wrapping his arm around my shoulder. "Hey, Annie… Don't cry. He'll come back. I know he will. Daryl's too loyal to this group. Whether he has Merle in tow or not, he'll be back here. He'll miss you too much."

"Me?" I laughed slightly through my shaky breathing. "I don't think so."

"Oh, I don't know. He always had a bit of a soft spot for my little sister. I'm telling you – he definitely had a thing for you, Annie. I've spoken to the man many times before, and he's always managed to bring you up and make you the centre of the conversation. Heck, he could probably write your autobiography."

"So, you're saying that you told him loads of embarrassing facts about me."

Benny grinned and just shook his head. I wiped my eyes dry and pushed my brother away as I laughed. He rolled his eyes and we went back to sitting beside each other on the wall, staring out at the Walkers. It seemed that this was the new equivalent to people watching. Though, the last thing I wanted to do was think about a Walker and their previous life and their story in depth. I couldn't make them human again. It was dangerous.

"It's getting kinda cold out here," Benny said. "Let's go back inside, regroup with the others. We can decide what needs to be done."

"Thanks Benny," I smiled at him as we clambered off the wall back inside. "I wouldn't know what to do if I didn't have you, you know? You're my hero, big brother."

"I'm glad to know. I wouldn't be much use otherwise."

"Hey, that's not true! You're one of the most useful people around this place. Who else would have managed to get the generator up and running and devised a plan to build up the walls of this place at the same time?"

"How did you know that I'd devised a plan?"

"You're easy to read, Ben. Plus, you're just eager to get back to the group so you can tell them about your fantastic brainwave and get to work on it."

My brother slung his arm around my shoulder as we made our way back to the cell block, slowly without a care in the world. I missed just having these kinds of moments with my brother. This prison had torn us apart and we'd barely seen each other in all the time that we had been working, off doing different things. At the end of the day, although the others in the group were my family, no one could compare to my brother. And that's how I understood how Daryl could pick Merle.


	41. Chapter 41

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

Carl and Rick joined us by the breach again later that day. The tombs outside the boiler room had been overrun again and we had had to deal with that problem too, on top of securing the whole prison from top to bottom seeing as Rick was so sure that the Governor was going to attack us. I just think that he wanted to keep us as busy as he could, for the same reasons that I wanted to be kept on my toes.

There had been discussion of going back to Woodbury tonight and finishing the Governor. Michonne had told us about what had happened when she had departed from us. If anyone could go back, I knew that Michonne would be able to do it.

Glenn was also in the tombs looking for a way to stop the heavy stream of Walkers and Carol and Axel were on the bridge barricading up the fences with metal and reinforcing them so that we wouldn't be as prone to dropping down from a bullet. Everything was all go in the prison.

I dragged sheets of metal through the tombs with Carl at my side for most of the day. He would take down any Walkers that found themselves heading in their direction as I heaved the metal out towards the breach where Benny was working. The young boy never really said much. I guessed that he was probably still down about Lori.

On our third run back towards the breach, he spoke to me. I was surprised that he had initiated a conversation at all, but I listened intently as he spoke.

"Do you think my dad's gone mad?" He asked, tilting his father's Sheriff's hat.

"No," I paused for a few moments, trying to think of the best approach. "I don't think he's gone mad. I just think he's lost himself for the time being. Everyone reaches their breaking point, Carl. This happens to be your dad's. But where there's a will, there's a way. But don't worry about it… He'll have your back whenever you need it."

Carl nodded in agreement. We turned a corner and Carl quickly shot down a Walker, making sure that the silencer was fully attached to his gun first. I nodded my thanks at him, heaving the sheets of metal up so that they wouldn't scratch and drag along the floor, causing more Walkers to turn their attention to us.

Rick passed us in the corridors to go and grab some more metal. He barely looked at us as he went past. Carl sighed and I huffed out a heavy breath, blowing a loose strand of hair away from my face. We reached Benny as he was hammering the metal against the walls and trying to make some sort of protection for us.

"You can head on up to the others now," I told Carl. "We've got this."

He nodded and mumbled a small thanks before heading back on his own. I dropped the metal to the floor and stood with my hands on my hips, watching Benny hammer nails into the metal. We were lucky enough to even have the sufficient material and equipment for this job to be carried out to a fair extent.

"Glenn's taking control up there," I told Benny. "When we were passing back through, he was talking about he was going to take the lead back up to Woodbury seeing as he's the leader now. I don't know how that's gonna work."

"It won't," Benny sighed. "Whenever someone takes undivided control in here, everything goes wrong. I mean, look what happened with Rick and Daryl. One bailed and the other's crazy. Besides, Glenn's hardly the guy to take charge, is he?"

"Well, no one else would here."

"I would say that you'd be a reasonable leader, but you're too quick to follow instructions. You never go against anything. You always do as you're told."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"No… But it's not a bad thing to be a free person, even now."

I passed up a sheet of metal to him as Rick walked back in with more. He had blood splattered across his white t-shirt, and I could only assume that he had escaped a surprising Walker attack. Usually we would always have someone with us when we did things like this, in case anything happened. Benny was the only one who would never bother with help. He would come down into the tombs without a care in the world and still come out unscathed with the job done.

"I can't do this anymore," Rick shook his head.

As simply as he had said the words, he turned on his heel and stormed off. I stared after him in surprise. Benny just shrugged at me with raised eyebrows. While I had been off gallivanting around, Benny had experienced and witnessed most of the things that had happened within the prison. He had always been a people watcher. He knew everything that was happening in the group right now.

I helped Benny work for what seemed like hours until I heard an echoing sound. From where we were at the back of the prison, I could hear what seemed to be screams. Benny glanced up at me and I just raised my fingers to my lips, pulling my gun out of my holster and hurrying past any stray Walkers round the back of the prison outside to see if I could get any closer to the noises. That was when I heard the gunshots.

My legs carried me quickly around the perimeter of the prison, dragging myself through the overgrown grass while I kept pressed up to the walls in case the whole of the prison was surrounded, although it sounded like just the front was.

I got around the side of the prison just in time to see the truck. It was tearing down the fence and barging right into our front lawn. Cars were positioned outside of the fences and men stood there with machine guns raised, firing recklessly in our direction. I could see the others in the courtyard. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Hershel pressed down in the grass at the bottom of the slope by the fences near the trees while Rick was on the other side of the fence. I didn't know why he was out there, but now was clearly not the time to question anything.

The others were hidden behind the wooden and metal pallets and kept out of sight. I noticed a bloody on the floor from where I stood pressed behind a wall and a gasp escaped my lips. Axel was dead. It looked like his body was bulkier than it should have been, but I looked away quickly.

In the middle of the grass, where the truck had abruptly come to a halt, a man in uniform jumped out of the cab and ran up to the back, opening the doors before running off. I didn't believe that I could get any more shocked, until Walkers started piling freely out of the back of the truck and right into the prison. We had spent such a long time clearing everything out, and now we were back in square one.

Footsteps sounded behind me and I spun around, my gun raised. Benny quickly lifted his hands in surrender and I nodded briefly at him before turning back to the chaos that had unfolded before us. The Walkers had started to stagger off in all directions. Nobody had rushed forward to make a move yet, which surprised me. The cars outside of the prison started up and moved away, laughs echoing from them.

"That was the Governor and his men?" Benny asked.

"Yeah," I breathed out. "They were all right… They came back to get us."

My eyes flitted over to where Hershel was pressed down in the grass, praying that no Walkers would get to him. He wouldn't be able to get away quick enough and Rick didn't have the time to run back around the fence perimeter and get to him.

"I'll go," Benny told me.

I nodded and my brother started to run across the field, taking out one Walker as he went. That's when I saw the others start to make a move. Michonne and Glenn were also making their way in Hershel's direction. I ran straight towards the courtyard, slipping through the fencing and dropping down beside Axel's body. I had been right. The body was bulkier than it should have been. And that was because Carol had taken refuge under the man's lifeless corpse.

"Carol," I offered a hand out to her as she laid panic stricken on the floor.

She grasped my hand and I pulled her to her feet. I looked out over the prison yard and noticed all the Walkers roaming around. Benny, Glenn and Michonne were taking care of them at the moment. The pair of us glanced down to Axel's body as Beth and Carl approached us.

"He died instantly," Carol breathed out. "I… I didn't…"

I reached out to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She and Axel had grown fairly close, despite only having a few days in each other's presence. I left her with Beth and Carl and departed towards the field. On my way down, I took out two Walkers silently with a knife. However, that didn't stop the fact that all those shots had been fired earlier. Walkers were surrounding the prison outside, attracted to the noise. But, in that moment, I didn't even think of Rick on the other side of the fence.

The Walkers had been dwindled down. Just as I was about to take down the last of four, I heard yelling coming from the side of the fence. Rick was being pinned to the fence by Walkers with practically no escape. Benny had already beaten me to the chase, and was racing towards him as Glenn and Michonne helped Hershel up and moved him away from the scene. I just about decided that Rick was done for when two figures ran out of the woods and started to take down all of the Walkers surrounding him. My eyes widened in surprise when I noted that it was Daryl and Merle. How had they managed to get back here so soon? It must have been fate that they arrived in our time of need.

Merle plunged his blade into the decomposing face of a Walker, whom was about to bite down on Daryl. I froze in the prison yard, despite there still being a few Walkers left, just staring at the Dixon brothers. Daryl was occupied, and obviously hadn't noticed me as he battled off the Walkers coming from each side along with Merle and Rick. Benny glanced at me, but saw that I wasn't paying attention, so hurried off to the gates with the keys that Rick had chucked him through the fence so that he could unlock them and make sure that they all got in safely.

Once they were all okay, there was a brief reunion between Daryl and Rick and a slight glare aimed in Merle's direction before they all started rushing into the prison to avoid any other Walkers catching up with them. I couldn't help but feel that my jaw was hanging wide open at their sudden and unexpected approach. Benny smirked when he saw my face and I rolled my eyes at him slightly.

I looked away before Daryl had even realised that I was there, getting to executing the stray Walkers so that we would have time to burn all of the bodies in the day, when the smoke wouldn't shoot up and show in the sky. The others had already made their way inside as I started to drag the corpses by their feet, making a stack of them. Although I wanted to get back inside and welcome Daryl back to his rightful home, I knew that my best bet would be to get this job well on the way so that we could sort out our problems first. Then I would be able to celebrate.

The heat bore down on me and I could feel sweat dripping off my forehead as I hauled the bodies along the ground. Axel's body would have to join them in the burning. About seven Walkers were stacked up, others littered around in the yard. I glanced over to the courtyard where Axel's body still laid on the ground. The door to the cell block opened and I noticed Daryl exiting. He didn't have his crossbow handy for once, so I gathered that he wasn't heading out already. I squinted in the sunlight, but couldn't see his face, so I just settled on raising my hand in acknowledgement. I watched as he covered Axel's body with a piece of cloth he had been holding. We were going to bury him in his home, as our family. How it should be. I couldn't believe that I hadn't even considered that. This world really was turning me cold and cruel.

I turned back to my work and only stopped when I heard footsteps coming down the slope behind me. Nine Walkers had been stacked and there were about four more to go. I already knew that it was Daryl standing behind me, but none of us said anything. We both just stood facing away from one another, looking at the stack of bodies.

"Ya should take time to cool down," He commented gruffly. "You're gonna pass out in this heat sooner or later. Why don't ya go inside? I'll finish this off."

"No," I shook my head, glancing at him. "No, I can do it fine by myself, thanks. If I don't do it, no one else will. Besides, I was doing fine in the heat and that won't change."

Daryl rolled his eyes at my stubborn attitude, following me as I stalked off through the high grass, hooking my fingers around another Walker's ankles. It happened quickly, but suddenly my hands were free and I was faced with Daryl's chest, his arms wrapped tightly around my shoulders. I hesitated for a moment, but then quickly pressed my face into his chest and wrapped my arms around his waist. It was safe to say that I had missed him in the short time that he had been gone.

"You couldn't resist coming back to us," I smiled slightly.

"I knew none of ya would be able to handle it on your own," Daryl quickly denied my warm suggestion. "It's a good thing I came back too. Ya were good as dead out here. I shoulda never have left when the Governor was out for us… This is my fault…"

"Don't ever say that, Daryl. None of this is your fault. You did what was right. It had to be done. And it doesn't matter anyway, you came back in time."

"But I knew Rick was going off the rails. I shoulda been here to stop it."

I pulled away from him and looked sternly at his face. He smiled sheepishly as I shook my head. The man was too good for the group. People thought of him as just a lousy redneck, but he was so much more than that. I sighed and looked back to the Walker that I'd been about to drag to the stack.

"You're right," I decided. "Maybe I should take a break for a little while. Though, I'm not sure I'd call it a break… You know what the discussions will be all about when we get back in there, don't you?"

"Course I do, I'm not stupid," Daryl slung his arm loosely around my shoulders as he led me back through the yard towards the cell block.

"I'm really glad you came back, Daryl. I missed you."

"Did ya now? I thought it was gonna take more than a few days for ya to crack and admit that you're madly in love with you."

"I'm not madly in love with you, idiot."

"No? So, when Benny came to me little after we cleared out this whole prison, he wasn't telling me about how ya were looking for the right time to confess your undying love for me?"

I paused at Daryl's words. Benny really was getting on my nerves. I pursed my lips in annoyance for a few moments but then couldn't help but smile slightly.

"You must have misheard him," I joked. "I don't recall saying those things."

"Oh, yeah?" Daryl grinned. "Ya want me to force them from ya?"

"You're all talk, Daryl Dixon. C'mon… I don't have all day."

I took hold of his hand and started leading him inside. A smile found its way onto my face at the sound of Daryl's laughter. I really had missed him.


	42. Chapter 42

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the plotlines/characters associated with it.**

The sound of arguing filtered up to the perch where I sat swinging my legs over the edge. They wanted to take immediate action against the Governor. I wasn't for or against any of it. In the end, I knew I would just follow the majority. I was only here to do what I could, not to make myself a martyr or a villain.

Merle was locked up in one of the cells in the main block. He didn't look happy, but I don't know why. What had he been expecting? To be welcomed back with open arms? Daryl hadn't really said much on the matter to me, but I knew that he and Rick had discussed it in hushed voices more than just once.

My hand grazed over the walkie talkie that sat beside me on the perch. We had scavenged a lot of things during our time in the prison, and this had been one of those things. Benny had the other one, as he was still down in the tombs trying to put some sheets of metal up securely against the damage in the wall. Nothing that had happened had really seemed to affect him. He had offered his condolences to the group, checked round the grounds for anything else loitering around, and then had headed back into the tombs. I had decided that I'd had enough time down there for a day.

The walkie talkie crackled to life and I picked it up, turning it over in my hands. I waited a few moments before Benny's voice finally came through, crackling.

"I need some more pallets," He said.

"I can do that," I spoke down the talkie, getting to my feet. "I'll meet you down there in a few minutes, okay? Hang on. Is everything alright?"

"Everything's fine, Annie. Stop worrying."

The line cut off. For a moment, I thought that the batteries that we had been using were dead, but it didn't take me long to realise that Benny just wasn't in the mood to talk. He was never really much in the mood to talk anymore.

I strolled into the block where the others were sitting around the tables, Merle still locked away in his cell. Hershel was flicking through a Bible. I noticed that Rick wasn't here. He clearly wasn't happy about the whole Merle situation. My eyes met Daryl's and I smiled briefly at him as I shrugged on my jacket which I'd left on the side of the table earlier when I'd been going in and out of the tombs.

"You know, if we're gonna live under the same roof, we should clear the air," Merle was saying to Michonne. "The whole hunting you down thing, that was just business. Carrying out orders."

"Hmm, like the Gestapo," Michonne rolled her eyes slightly.

"Yeah, exactly. I've done a lot of things I ain't proud of. Before and after. Anyway, hope we can get past it. Let bygones be bygones."

Even I couldn't help but smile slightly at Merle's bullshit. He really was willing to do anything to wrangle himself out of any harm's way. I checked that my pistol was loaded before slotting it in its normal place in the back of my jeans. Nobody said anything as I moved towards the door to let myself out, but Daryl caught my arm as I reached out to pull on the handle.

"Where are ya going?" He asked in confusion.

"I'm helping Benny," I explained. "He needed some more pallets to cover up down in the tomb. I'm gonna get them and run them over to him. It's the least I can do."

"You're gonna go down and round in the tombs all on your own?"

"Yeah… And I have been doing so for the past couple of days, Daryl. It's really not an issue. I'll be back in ten minutes tops."

He looked unsure but nodded, backing away. I walked outside and paused in the cool air for a moment before continuing my walk. Both Maggie and Carl were outside, taking watch. I smiled at the young boy as he tilted his hat at me. Maggie glanced over her shoulder, abandoning her rifle for a moment to meet my eye.

"Everything okay in there?" She asked.

"It depends how you define 'okay'," I shrugged. "It doesn't seem too frosty. But… you know…"

I didn't want to talk about Rick in front of his son. Maggie just nodded in agreement, turning away to look through the scope of her gun again. As I layered up some pallets and carried them underneath my arm, I heard Maggie say something.

"Something weird out there," She called, looking intensely through the scope. "Andrea… Get your dad and the others. Go!"

Carl quickly nodded and jumped down from where he was taking watch, running back inside. I dropped the pallets and hauled myself up to where Maggie was standing. I motioned to her and she passed me the rifle. My eye squinted slightly as I peered through the scope. She hadn't been wrong. The familiar blonde woman whom we had abandoned at Hershel's farm was walking towards the prison gates, a Walker attached to a pet control pole by the neck. I frowned slightly, passing the rifle back to Maggie.

She continued to keep watch as I climbed down from the ledge she was on, grabbing the pallets and moving back inside. Rick and Carl departed as I slid past them on my way in. The others all looked curious about the news they had heard.

"Is it true?" Carol looked at me.

"Yup," I pushed my hair away from my face. "She's there in broad daylight."

In a sudden frenzy of excitement, or perhaps guilt, the others left to go and greet her at the gate of the prison. I knew that Rick probably wouldn't take too kindly to her coming back here, especially after we had found out about her being in Woodbury.

Merle was still hunched over in his locked up cell as I dragged the pallets past him. He looked up hopefully.

"My brother missed ya an awful lot," He commented slightly. "Wouldn't stop going on about ya. He really made ya out to be the perfect little housewife."

"Housewife?" I scoffed. "So while I'm risking my life, and you're sat locked up in complete protection, I'm the one who's the housewife? You might want to rethink."

"Sassy… It ain't surprising. Ya gotta have nerve to spend all day with these people."

"Look, let's just keep things separate here, okay? I haven't got a problem with you Merle and I respect that you're Daryl's brother, but don't try to manipulate me into letting you out of that cell. It ain't going to happen."

"He's even got ya talking like him, huh… 'ain't'? I bet ya woulda never a said that when he weren't here."

I paused at his words. It was true. My grammar had decreased dramatically since spending so much time with the drawling redneck, not that I really minded. Merle smirked and nodded at me. I just shook my head at him, picking up the pallets and going over to the door which led to the tombs, yanking it open.

"I can help ya carry 'em, sweet cheeks," He called after me.

He cackled after and I just ignored him, slamming the door behind me and reaching towards my belt loop to unhook the torch I had there, flickering it on so that I could direct my way through the tombs. There were no longer any shadows to be cast but mine. We had done a solid job of clearing this place out. For the first time since everything had started, I felt safe. Not from the outside world, but from the original problem – the Walkers. Now we had the Governor hot on our tails, and that was definitely something not to feel safe about.

I held the torch awkwardly in my grasp as I had both hands wrapped around the pallet stack. When I finally reached Benny where he was working, he was sprawled out on top of the crumbling wall with a cigarette hanging from his lips. I wasn't even aware that he had cigarettes. I'd never been a smoker, and I had never intended to be, but I probably wouldn't pass one down in the current circumstances. Olivia had gotten Benny into smoking. She had claimed that it was a great stress reliever.

"You took your time," Benny said dully.

"Andrea's here," I replied. "I left before they let her in, but she's here. She brought a little Walker pet with her."

"Is she really?"

I'd never been particularly close with Andrea. In fact, I'd despised her a lot of the time. She had irritated me on multiple occasions, from being jealous about a simple gun to always thinking she was right. But we had bonded over our group's martyr – Dale. Both of us had been in agreement and in that time before everything on the farm had gone downhill, we had been somewhat friends. We had really understood each other.

"You should take a break now anyway," I pointed out.

"Just to come and see Andrea?" He frowned.

"No… But you've been working for most of the day. A lot has happened, and I just think that a break would best suit you."

"I know you haven't really been keeping track of things around here Annie, but it's been almost two days since Axel died. Two days since Daryl came back here with Merle. We're not living in the past anymore, okay?"

My mind went blank. I hadn't even realised that it had been realistically such a short time, but a long time in my mind. Benny sighed but he stood up nonetheless and started heading towards the cell block through the tombs without another word. I followed after him quickly. The last thing I wanted was for people to think that we were having an argument. We didn't need anymore breakdowns in this group.

Benny opened the door to the cell block and we filed out into the sudden bright light. Andrea turned to us and her eyes widened in surprise. She grinned and held her arms out towards Ben. He nodded and smiled, reaching forward to give her a hug.

"Annie," Andrea said after she had let go of Benny. "You look so grown up… I would have never have placed you as the same Annie all those months ago."

I smiled slightly. Merle was right. We should all just let bygones be bygones. I stepped forward and hugged Andrea lightly before pulling away. She looked around the whole group in admiration. Clearly, she had greeted all the others. There was an awkward expression on some faces and I assumed that all of our group's deaths had been brought up. Andrea had always been close to Shane. I wondered how she had taken that news.

"You all live here?" She questioned.

"Here and the cells," Rick nodded.

"There? Well, can I go in?"

"I won't allow that."

"I'm not an enemy, Rick."

"We had that field and courtyard until your boyfriend tore down the fence with a truck and shot us up."

"He said you fired first."

"Well, he's lying. He killed an inmate who survived in here. We liked him. He was one of us."

I couldn't help but cringe slightly at Rick's bitter words. Andrea looked down. Her boyfriend? I had known that she had been in Woodbury, but I hadn't known that she had been close to the Governor. If that was the case, her being here right now would only make things worse for us.

"I didn't know anything about that," Andrea sighed. "As soon as I found out, I came. I didn't even know you were in Woodbury until after the shoot-out."

"That was days ago."

"I told you, I came as soon as I could. What have you told them?"

Andrea quickly turned to Michonne with accusing eyes. I clearly wasn't in on much here. Everyone seemed to have formed relationships that I knew nothing of.

"Nothing," Michonne glared.

"I don't get it," Andrea scoffed. "I left Atlanta with you people and now I'm the odd man out?"

"He almost killed Michonne and he would have killed us," Rick said. "With his finger on the trigger. Isn't he the one who kidnapped you? Who beat you?"

"Look, I cannot excuse or explain what Philip has done. But I am here trying to bring us together. We have to work this out."

A slightly sour taste lingered in my mouth at the sound of Andrea calling the Governor Philip. They were on first name basis and yet she still dared to bring that term to us. I shifted in the spot where I was standing with my arms crossed. Daryl met my eye across the room and I raised my eyebrows at him in acknowledgement. He mouthed something to me that looked like 'later'. I just nodded.

"There's nothing to work out," Our leader announced. "We're gonna kill him. I don't know how or when, but we will."

"We can settle this," Andrea pleaded. "There's room at Woodbury for all of you."

"You know better than that. What makes you think this man wants to negotiate? Did he say that?"

"No."

"Then why did you come here?"

"Because he's gearing up for war. The people are terrified. They see you as killers. They're training to attack."

"I'll tell you what," Daryl interrupted. "Next time you see Philip, you tell him I'm gonna take his other eye."

I couldn't help but smile slightly at the way Daryl spat his name out venomously. Andrea looked more than frustrated. She looked around at all of us in desperation. When her gaze lingered on me for an extra second, I just shrugged. We had shared the same opinion once. It didn't mean that we would again.

However, to some extent, I did agree with her. I wanted things to be settled and at least civil between us. But I knew that those things couldn't and wouldn't happen. Not because we weren't willing to try, but because we were too far gone. The Governor would never turn back. If he wanted his prison, he would take this prison. We couldn't let our guard down this far in the game.

"Rick," Andrea groaned. "If you don't' sit down and try to work this out, I don't know what's gonna happen. He has a whole town. Look at you… You've lost so much already. You can't stand alone anymore."

"You want to make this right, get us inside," Rick bargained.

"No."

"Then we got nothing to talk about."

"There are innocent people. You poisoned them. I just told tem the truth. I didn't choose him over you. I wanted a life. Once we entered Woodbury, you became hostile."

"That's 'cause I could see it," Daryl said as Andrea spoke to him.

"See what?"

"That you were under his spell from the second you laid eyes on him."

"That is not true."

"And you still are."

"No, I am there because people need me."

"And what about these people?"

"I'm trying to save them, too."

I felt bad that Andrea was having such trouble expressing what she felt. If I were in charge, I would have allowed her to just talk and I would have listened. But all I could do was sit back and listen to the small streams of chatter that left her lips.

"I didn't realise the Messiah complex was contagious," Michonne rolled her eyes.

"Go to hell, Michonne," Andrea snapped as the arguments spread between not just her and one man, but others too.

"He sent Merle to kill me. Would have sent him to kill you, too, if you had come with me. But you didn't, did you? Hm-mm… You chose a warm bed over a friend. That's why I went back to Woodbury. Exposed him for what he is. I knew that it would hurt you."

The atmosphere quickly plummeted at the two old friends chat. It didn't take long for everyone to disperse. I knew that Daryl wanted to talk to me, but I just motioned for him to wait until Andrea had gone. He sighed but agreed reluctantly as I headed upstairs where Carol had led Andrea, baby talk flying through the air.

Judith was sat in Andrea's arms. I smiled at the sight. I wondered if Andrea had even felt this warm hearted since the whole Woodbury ordeal. Judith coming into our lives was definitely the thing that had somewhat brought is together in some ways and made us understand that there was still light in this darkness.

"Hi, Judith," Andrea cooed. "Oh, how precious are you?... What happened to Lori?"

"During a C-section," Carol explained briefly. "Maggie. Carl had to-"

"Oh, my God."

"T-Dogg died leading me to safety."

"And Shane?"

I realised that Andrea still didn't know about the man she had grown so close to on the farm. I leant against the railings of the perch, waiting anxiously for her response.

"Rick killed him," Carol answered in an abrupt tone. "The night we left the farm. The whole Randall thing was a lie. Shane tried to kill Rick."

"She loved Rick," Andrea denied.

"No…" I spoke up, shaking my head. "Shane loved Lori."

"Rick's become cold," Carol nodded. "Unsteady."

"He has his reasons."

"The Governor, you need to do something."

"I am."

Andrea looked slightly guilty, while Carol was taking a more determined approach. I narrowed my eyes. What on earth would Carol know when it came down to 'Philip'?

"No, you need to sleep with him," She said.

If I had been drinking at the time, I was sure that I would have choked on my drink. Even Andrea's eyes widened in surprise. I gaped. Carol came up with this idea? I had no clue how long it had taken for her to process it, but I was sure I didn't want to know the inner workings of her mind at this time.

"Give him the greatest night of his life," Carol continued. "You get him to drop his guard. Then when he's sleeping, you can end this."

"Be careful."

Andrea bid her goodbyes to us all. I quickly squeezed her, muttering in her ear that she didn't need to worry about the Governor. That she had done enough just by trying. Tears had briefly filled her eyes and I had laughed as she had quickly wiped them away before leaving to head back to Woodbury.

We headed back into the cell. Daryl spoke of going on a run, but Rick quickly denied the suggestion and warned him to keep an eye on his brother as it was his problem.

I sat on the bottom step of the stairs in the block as night dawned. Rick was holding Judith, Daryl and Hershel beside him. Merle had been let out of his imprisonment and was leaning in the doorway on the far side. The others were grouped around Beth as she sung a song in her beautiful voice. I leant my head against the railing of the stairs as I listened to the soothing song. The last thing I noticed before I drifted off was Daryl heading over in my direction.


	43. Chapter 43

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

I woke up in my cell and was momentarily surprised at my surroundings before everything that had happened yesterday came swimming back into my mind. It seemed almost surreal that Andrea was alive and that she had come here to see us. It also seemed more surreal that the Governor was planning an attack.

My head pounded as I pushed myself up on my lumpy mattress into a sitting position, groaning all the way. My muscles were tense and ached from all the heavy lifting I'd partaken in yesterday. How Benny did it, I did not know. He could go for hours on end without even breaking a sweat. I suppose that was just what he had brought to this group from previously being a hard labourer. I just didn't want him to wear himself down.

It was quiet as I walked out of my cell, dragging my knotty hair up into a ponytail. Usually, the others would be bustling around during the day and at least making some sort of noise. And I knew that it was day time, as I could clearly see that through the windows lining the crumbling walls of the cell block.

My footsteps rang out loud and clear as I swiftly moved down the stairs. I peeked into a nearby cell and saw Beth sitting there on her own, rocking Judith softly in her arms. I smiled briefly at the sight before tapping lightly on the bars of the cell gate. Beth looked up, pushing a strand of stray blonde hair behind her ear.

"How's everything going?" I asked, nodding towards Judith.

"Fine," Beth smiled. "I think I'm getting real good with her. I know formula isn't the best for a baby to live off of, but I think we're handling this real well."

"I think we are too. It looks like you've definitely got the hang of it. Say, do you know where the others have gone?"

"Oh, Rick, Michonne and Carl went out further into the town to try and get some supplies. The others are all around here somewhere."

I nodded. They must have taken the run that Daryl had wanted to do. Beth turned back to Judith and I thanked her quickly, turning on my heel and leaving the cell. The weather seemed glorious outside, and I wouldn't have been surprised if the others were all crowded out in the courtyard. It would make sense. But, I highly doubted that Benny would be there. He would most likely still be working away in the tombs.

Subconsciously, I made my way out of the cell block, past Merle and his catcalls, and straight outside. The sun bore down and I could almost feel the anticipating sweat waiting to drip from my skin. Maggie and Hershel were sat on the bench outside while Glenn and Daryl were out in the main yard, finishing off my previous job of dragging Walker bodies into a big pile to make them quicker to burn. I assumed that Carol must have been inside doing something or the other.

Maggie glanced over at me and lifted her hand up, waving me over. I walked in her direction, swinging my leg over the opposite side of the bench and sitting at the table with my elbows propped up on it. Her and her father looked at me through the blinding sun.

"I wasn't even aware that I'd slept for so long," I grinned.

"It wasn't that long," Maggie shrugged. "I've barely been up myself. Besides, yesterday was one hell of a day. I don't blame you."

"No… It's not stopping Benny though, is it?"

"Did you go to see him down in the tombs before all of this then?"

"I just assumed that was where he would be, and it seems that I'm not wrong. He needs to stop exerting himself so much. I don't want to be worrying over him every damned second of the day."

"He's fit enough," Hershel commented. "I think he can handle his own just fine, Annie."

I sighed, but nodded in agreement. Hershel was right. My brother was tough and he wouldn't let a petty thing such as exhaustion take over him. I looked back out into the yard and watched as Daryl lifted one of the corpses with ease, slamming it down on the pile so it sprawled out upon the other bodies. I could only imagine how bad the stench was down there.

"I'll go and help them," I decided, standing up. "We don't need this dragging out any longer than necessary."

"It's not as if we've got anything else to do today," Maggie replied.

"I know… I know. I just want to keep busy, you know?"

Maggie nodded in understanding. She had been the one who'd suffered with the brute of consuming thoughts after what had happened with her and Glenn at Woodbury. I departed from the young woman and her eloquent father, practically speed walking away from the courtyard and out towards Glenn and Daryl. I passed Glenn on the way, slapping his shoulder as he went past. He hadn't been in the best of moods recently and he definitely wasn't the same light hearted Glenn since Woodbury. Though, I couldn't blame him.

Daryl looked up, wiping the sweat from his brow as I approached him; taking the ankles of the Walker he was looming above and starting to drag it across the grass. He rolled his eyes at my pathetic ways and took the arms, lifting the body from the ground.

"This is why I didn't let ya do it on your own that night," He smiled. "Ya would have taken forever. We woulda still been here today."

"Very funny," I glared mockingly at him.

"Just don't strain yourself too much, huh? Ya don't even need to be out here doing this. I would rather it if ya just stayed inside and got the rest ya deserve."

"Daryl, the work I was doing yesterday wasn't quite what I'd call hard labour. Besides, this keeps me occupied and occupied is good. Anyway, shouldn't you be keeping an eye on that reckless brother of yours?"

"What Rick don't know won't hurt him."

I laughed, helping Daryl to heave the body up and dump it on the waist-length pile. Glenn followed with the last Walker in the area and then they were ready to burn.

"We'll have to collect wood," Glenn said.

"I'll go out of the gates and get it," I offered. "It'd be stupid for us all to go. You just let me out and I'll be back in ten minutes or so."

"Sure ya can handle all that heavy lifting?" Daryl frowned.

I was surprised that he hadn't denied my offer straight away. He was definitely growing more accustomed to my growing independent ways. It was nice how he could trust me more as the days went on. It made me feel happier and also safer to know that he knew I would be able to handle myself if anything went wrong or if anything needed doing and I was the last lifeline, given Daryl's persistent choices.

"That's what I'm built for."

He didn't look sure, but Glenn hastily agreed so that he could hurry back to Maggie. We trudged down through the yard towards the gate, Glenn pulling out a ring of keys. Instead of going through the large gates where Walkers surrounded, which had been temporarily boarded up after the Governor's attack, I would walk round the maze of a footpath to slip out through a wire clipped hole in the fence that would lead me out straight to the woods so that I wouldn't bump into any trouble along the way.

Glenn fumbled with his keys before managing to unlock the single gate.

"We'll wait here," Daryl informed me. "Ya sure ya don't need a hand? Ya won't be able to get all the wood back here on your own."

"Probably not," I agreed. "But I can make a couple of runs while you stack the wood, can't I? Trust me, this isn't a problem."

Glenn rolled his eyes slightly at Daryl's behaviour towards me and I grinned at them both once again before jogging along the footpath. It would take me forever to walk the whole way through the mesh gate enclosures and we didn't really have that kind of time in any aspect of our living. Daryl stayed true to his word and remained at the gates, while Glenn had already started to wander back towards Hershel and Maggie.

I reached the cut in the fence which had been threaded back up after being cut. I unlaced it and clambered through the slit, knotting it back up again in case any Walkers found a way to get in. They were becoming more logical so it seemed, I could say that much.

There was no problem when it came to moving to the edge of the wood and picking up the logs that had been left. One of the jobs, mainly shared between the male camp members, had been to come out here and cut up wood for ideals such as fire. Of course, nobody ever had the ability to bring back all the wood that they cut at once, and we had also agreed that it would be easier to supply plenty of wood and leave it so that when we needed it again we could make a simple and quick journey.

I stacked up the logs in my arms, stumbling back slightly at the weight of them. The whole perimeter of the prison was mainly flocked with blood lusting Walkers, but this area was a lot easier to navigate my way through as there was nothing really going on around here much of the time to attract Walkers over, unlike the bridge across the water on the other side of the perimeter where people were often making the journey in and out.

Without a problem, I managed to get back to the gate and untie it again, throwing the logs through the hole before following after them and tying the gates back up again. I'd obviously have to make the journey more than once, and it was a pain having to go through the same lengthy process each time, but we had to take the proper precautions to ensure that we didn't lose anyone else and risk our lives. Walkers were the least of our problems right now. What if I happened to accidentally leave the wire open and one of the Governor's men snuck in in the night? Sure, they wouldn't get far with all of the gates and locks and bolts, but they would get somewhere and that was a threat that loomed over our heads like dark clouds each day. We couldn't afford to make mistakes. One mistake could cost us our lives.

Daryl unlocked the gate as soon as I got close to him, moving forward to take some of the logs from me and helping me to move them over to the stack of Walkers.

"I take it that Glenn isn't that interested in any of this anymore?" I asked.

"We all know what he's interested in," Daryl smirked suggestively.

"You know, you could get your brother out here to lend a hand. It could be like probation for him or something. That's if you want to prove to Rick that it's alright to trust him gradually, you know?"

"It's not a bad idea, but I'm not gonna force other people into feeling uncomfortable because of it. That's not fair. I don't want him hurting nobody."

"Who says that he's going to hurt anyone? You've changed your tune."

He sighed, dropping the logs. As he stood there with a slightly crestfallen face, I briefly remembered how he had told me last night about how he wanted to talk to me. I must have fallen asleep before he had gotten the chance. As Daryl looked away, I moved closer to him and rested my hand on his forearm lightly.

"I'm not suggesting that you tell me," I told him. "But you don't have to be the one to take the burden each time Merle does something wrong, okay? If anything happened, that most certainly wouldn't be your fault. Nobody would blame you, not even Rick."

"Ya wouldn't blame me if my brother raped ya?"

I flinched back at his suddenly bitter tone. Since he had heard in detail about Maggie and Glenn in Woodbury and how Merle had treated them, his attitude towards his brother behind closed doors had seemed to drastically change.

"No," I said definitely. "No, I wouldn't blame you. You shouldn't think about your brother like that. He loves you and you love him. It's as simple as that. Anyway, I think he respects you enough not to harm me or anyone else."

"He wouldn't harm ya because he thinks I have some claim on ya."

"I wouldn't let him know that you don't."

Daryl glanced up in surprise and I couldn't help but smile vaguely. Merle had made his opinion clear on what he had thought about Daryl and I and our relationship.

"What?" Daryl asked.

"If you tell him anything different, he'll mock you for eternity," I laughed. "I know that not everyone thinks highly of your brother, but his heart's in the right place at the end of the day. He's just as any big brother should be."

"So, you're saying that it's just brotherly competition because I got the pretty girl and he didn't?"

My mouth dropped slightly as Daryl grinned. That was a cheeky move on his behalf to say the least. Daryl's smile faltered slightly as I didn't say anything. Did he really think of me in any other way than just a close friend, perhaps a friend with benefits if we judged our relationship in terms of the occasional kiss here and there?

"I didn't mean that," Daryl said awkwardly, rubbing the nape of his neck. "Sorry."

"Gee," I smiled softly. "You could have at least told me about our relationship, huh? I wasn't even aware that there was a claim. Daryl Dixon, you never fail to surprise me."


	44. Chapter 44

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

The car that Rick, Carl and Michonne had taken down into the town rolled up to the gates. I left the burning pile of bodies, jogging over to the main entrance gates to swing them open and let them drive through. A couple of Walkers passed the boundary, but I quickly took them down with a knife and pushed them back outside the prison again, locking the gates shut behind me once more.

I took my time walking up to the courtyard as the others gathered around the three who stepped out of the car. None of them really looked like they were in the mood for talking. Benny had appeared since he'd been working in the tombs. I shot him a smile as I approached and he raised his eyebrows back at me in acknowledgement. He had barely left the tombs for a while, getting so immersed in his work.

Rick was talking with Daryl as I went to stand with my brother. Michonne instantly made her way into the cell and Carl trudged off too. It apparently hadn't been the best trip that our group had made judging by those reactions.

"Have you finished up in the tombs?" I asked Benny.

"Nah," My brother shook his head. "I don't think I'll need to do much more work though. It's done for the most part… I reckon it'll probably work."

"Of course it'll work. You always were the God of crafting. The only way it's going to get taken down is if they choose to bring a tank, but I'm sure that won't happen."

"Who knows? Nothing would surprise me with that Woodbury lot. I haven't even met them yet, but I've heard nothing but bad things."

"I didn't meet them either. I only saw them… And you saw them, too. I guess we can only imagine what they're like close and personal if they're like that way back."

Benny nodded in agreement. He excused himself to go and talk to Rick. I watched him curiously as he also got involved in the conversation that I had previously noticed, talking in hushed tones and nodding fervently. I had no idea what Rick would be saying to them, but I didn't want Benny involved. He was my older brother, and he had been the one protecting me through all of this, but I felt oddly over protective of him now, as of recent times. Perhaps it was because he had spent so much time away from the reality of this world working away at things that didn't need to be completed; he had forgotten what it was really like out here. I didn't want him getting wrapped up in something and being hurt.

I ambled over to the tree men. Rick immediately stopped talking as I approached. My eyebrows shot up into my fringe and Benny smirked ever so slightly. Even Daryl smiled.

"I'd accept," Benny said. "But I'm almost certain that my sister will do a better job than I ever could. I know she can be a little reckless and impulsive at times."

Rick scoffed and I narrowed my eyes slightly at him and Benny. Did he not trust me all of a sudden? I'd been the first to accept acting as bait when we'd been in Woodbury, running the length of the town just to give the guns a target. In fact, I'd done so much for this camp, especially since the eight months after we had left the farm, that I wouldn't even have considered myself the same person as before.

"It's not that," Rick said as if I knew what he was talking about. "I don't want to risk anything happening. She'll be less likely to ably handle herself…. Especially after what happened with Maggie, I just don't know."

"You're going to go and meet with the Governor?" I clicked on.

"Yeah… Yeah, we are. We're gonna go tomorrow. I'm gonna talk with him and see what he has to say and then I'll come back here and we can make the decision."

"If you're saying that I wouldn't be able to stand aside and do a good job of keeping things in control, I'm slightly offended. I thought you knew I was capable, Rick."

"I do know that you're capable. I just don't wanna risk this one, okay?"

I sighed but I nodded. It wasn't fair to put Rick in a position where he had to make a choice. If he wanted to take Benny and Daryl, then he would take Benny and Daryl. I shouldn't say otherwise. My brother looked slightly surprised and almost reluctant, but he nodded as Rick talked about him going with Hershel as well.

And the next day, there wasn't even much of a goodbye before Hershel, Rick and Benny piled into the car. I watched as Daryl climbed onto his motorcycle. Carol also stood outside as we waited for them to leave. Daryl nodded at me and I returned it as he pulled away, Carl running to open the gates for them. We hadn't mentioned anything much of yesterday, but I would talk to him when he got back. If he got back – but, I knew I shouldn't think like that. Of course he was going to come back. He was Daryl Dixon for crying out loud.

I wandered back inside and rolled my eyes at Merle sprawled out on his bed in the cell he occupied. He looked up when he saw me walk past. I sat down at one of the tables and watched as Glenn, Maggie and Beth all moved around while they worked. The door opened and Carol and Carl returned.

"Carl, come here," Glenn called. "You stash these at the loading dock. All right? Beth, put more up on the catwalk. If anyone gets pinned down, we need to make sure that they have plenty of ammo. I'll go work on the cage outside."

"What we should be doing is loading some of this firepower in a truck and paying a visit to the Governor," Merle called out unhelpfully as we started working. "We know where he is right now."

"Are you suggesting that we just go in and kill him?"

"Yeah, I am."

"We told Rick and Daryl that we'd stay put," Carol hesitated.

"I've changed my mine, sweetheart," Merle smirked. "Being on the sideline with my brother out there ain't sitting right with me. The four of them are right in the middle of it. No idea we're coming. They could get taken hostage or killed. A thousand things could go wrong. And they will."

"My dad can take care of himself," Carl said haughtily.

"Sorry, son, but your dad's head could be on a pike real soon."

"Don't say that to him," Maggie snapped.

"It's not the right move," Glenn spoke over the top of everyone. "Not now. Can't take the risk of putting them in the crossfire. That's my decision. It's final."

Merle carried on rambling, much to everyone's annoyance. I groaned and walked into the block of cells, peering into the cell where Judith was always kept. It surprised me to see that Michonne was also sitting in there, watching the baby. She glanced up startled when she saw me, going to make a move.

"You can hold her if you want," I offered. "I mean, she's obviously not mine to make that decision, but she's family to everyone round here."

Michonne sighed and shook her head. She didn't seem like the woman who would have ever had contact with a baby before. I imagined her as the type of person who would grimace at a crying baby. I smiled ruefully to myself, moving forward to pick up the wiggling baby from the box nest of blankets that she had been sat in.

I rocked her for a few moments before holding her out towards Michonne. There was a pause, but the other woman finally reached forward and accepted the baby into her arms, looking down at her like she was a wonder of the world. In fact, she was. Judith was a wonder to all of us. It just hadn't happened during good timing.

"You're good with kids," Michonne said absently as she rocked Judith. "Did you have any of your own?"

"No," I shook my head. "I had a kid sister. I intended to have kids and everything… But, probably in a few years time. I was twenty three when this all happened, you know? I've passed twenty four now, probably not far off from twenty five. That would have probably been an ideal age for me, if I'd been in a relationship."

"You weren't?"

"I was in a semi-serious relationship, but that went all wrong before this went down. What about you? You don't strike me as the marriage and family type."

"You wouldn't be wrong there. I had a boyfriend. He went a little off the rails though and I had no choice but to ditch him. I doubted we were gonna get married, but I would have been happy staying with him for a long time."

I was surprised that Michonne seemed so willing to open up. She looked down at Judith with sorrow in her eyes. I didn't question it, because I knew exactly what that felt like. It was despair. We all knew deep down that we wouldn't be able to raise that baby in a way that we should. It was as simple as that.

Commotion was sounding from out in the cell. I rolled my eyes mockingly at Michonne before pushing myself to my feet and going out to see what was happening. Merle looked like he was about to leave and Glenn had stepped up to the challenge.

"You can't stop me," Merle was saying.

"If you're gonna live here with us, it's gonna be on our terms," Glenn snapped. "If Michonne can do it, why can't you?"

"Cause it's my brother out there, that's why. What's the matter with y'all? I'm not gonna let you put them in danger. What about you, Annie? I thought ya would have more sense than this. He's your boyfriend, ain't he? Ya really gonna risk letting your boyfriend's body come back here?"

"Shut up, Merle," I warned him. "I'm not saying you're wrong for wanting to go and help your brother, but you're going about this in all the wrong ways. Just back down now before anymore trouble is caused, okay?"

"Nut up already, boy," He turned back to Glenn. "This guy cops a feel of your woman and you pussy out like this?"

Both men lunged forward and the ruckus commenced. Michonne appeared in the doorway with lack of baby. I tried to grip onto Glenn's arms, seeing as he was the easier target, and pull him away, but he wasn't having it. They kicked and screamed and I could hear Maggie and Carol yelling for them to stop.

A gunshot rang out clearly and I jumped at the noise. I turned around to see Beth pointing a gun towards the ceiling, her finger still tugging on the trigger. Everyone broke apart and stayed silent. Both of the men were panting from their scruff on the floor. Glenn stood up and moved away from Merle quickly.

"You coming with me or not?" Merle asked finally. "Me and my brother, we have a few calls we use when we hunt. I'll give him a heads up. He'll warn the others. You shogun the Governor's ass, I'll take care of the rest. We'll be home before you know it."

"And what about Andrea?" Glenn asked unsurely.

"Bullets fly, she's gonna have to make her choice real quick."

"You're on your own. You get people killed, it's on you."

Maggie had already left during the conversation to go and take watch. Glenn departed from the block and I sighed in exasperation at all that had happened. Merle looked mighty pleased with himself. I glared at him as he met my eyes.

"Ya never denied it," He commented.

"I never denied what?" I asked him in confusion.

"That Daryl was your boyfriend. I didn't know my little brother could get quite the catch, I must say. When did this happen, huh? Didn't fancy telling ol' Merle?"

I could feel the others training their eyes on me suspiciously. Really, they should have all known by now that something was going on between Daryl and I. I thought that we'd made that much obvious. Merle was grinning away cockily to himself.

"Look," I snapped. "You don't have the right go poking into everyone's business. This isn't your place or your people to control, okay? Glenn was right. You wait until you're given a go ahead to do whatever it is that you wanted to do. And anyway, do you really think that Daryl will be so chuffed that you came to save him, which he probably doesn't need, because you think he's a wimp? I don't think that'll leave a good impression. So just do us all a favour, and keep to yourself like we all do around here. At least then you won't be getting yourself into trouble every other minute."

There was a pause and a slight intake of breath from the others standing around. I grinded my teeth in annoyance, waiting for Merle to step forward and challenge me in my increasingly bad mood. He simply smiled to himself.

"You're quite the catch for my little brother," He chuckled. "He needs a woman to pull him into line."

Later on, the four men arrived back at the prison. I wasn't jumping for joy to go and greet them as I was still in a foul mood. Instead, I opted to sit in the block at one of the tables sorting out the ammo into small piles according to the gun that they used.

It didn't take long for Rick to explain what the Governor had said, and how he couldn't be trusted. He basically wanted to take over the prison, so we were going to surprise them with the first hit instead. Michonne and Merle were quick to agree to the decision while the rest of us just sat back. Hershel and Carol suggested taking our chances on the road and just ditching the prison. I didn't think it was a bad idea, but we couldn't. Hershel was handicapped and we now also had a baby with us. It would be hard to get around with our group. We'd be better off just fighting.

Hershel and Rick spoke outside on the catwalk and I knew that there was more to the whole situation rather than just 'let's get the Governor'. Of course it couldn't be as simple as that. I sighed and looked up as Daryl sat down opposite me. He pulled a pile of ammo towards himself and started loading up some of the guns that I had thrown aside during my struggle of mismatching the bullets and the guns.

"My brother been teasing you rotten?" Daryl laughed.

"I'm in a bad temper, don't test me," I rolled my eyes. "I don't think teasing is quite the word."

"He told me about how ya told him off. He said that it was healthy for me. Like I don't know that you're a firecracker."

"A firecracker, huh? I guess that's not such a bad thing."

"Nah, it's not. So… um… this is real and everything?"

"If you mean our relationship, it depends on whether what you said yesterday was 'real'. If it was, then yes. I'm more than willing to give this a go."

"Yeah, I meant what I said yesterday."

"Good. Then I meant what I just said now."


	45. Chapter 45

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of the characters/plotlines associated with it.**

Nothing in the prison group was really the same after Rick's meeting with the Governor. There had been a lot of hushed whispers and I'd heard Carol sobbing into her mattress plenty of times during the night, when the cell block was quiet and every sound echoed clearly. I wasn't getting much sleep and I knew that I wouldn't. It wasn't the best situation to be in, but I couldn't help it.

Last night, I had walked out onto the perch where Daryl had been sprawled out on his mattress. He had been snoring lightly when I'd lowered myself beside him and tucked myself under the thin blanket that cuddled him, moving closer to his side to feel his heat radiating to my own body. I'd fallen asleep that way.

Benny had woken me up this morning. Daryl had already gone, and I didn't know what he had thought about everything, but Benny had definitely had his opinion to share. In fact, he hadn't left. The pair of us were sat on the perch, our legs swinging over the railings towards the ground below.

"Did you hear?" Benny asked as we picked at the food Carol had delivered to us.

"I don't know what you're talking about," I shrugged.

"I'm surprised that Daryl didn't tell you. This is only something that I overheard, so I may be incorrect, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was the truth."

"Well, are you going to tell me or not?"

"The Governor wants Michonne. Rick is going to hand her over."

I fell silent. I'd grown to like Michonne as the days went on. She was helpful around the prison and she never complained. She was actually a very genuine person, and I often found myself intrigued by her stories and laughing at her deadpan jokes. Everyone thought she was friendly and a good addition to the group. Of course she was – she swung her katana blade around like there was no tomorrow.

Benny chewed noisily on the egg whites that he was eating. My eyebrows furrowed as I sat deep in thought. Would Rick really hand over Michonne? He'd not liked her at first, but he hadn't had any problems with her after. But then again, he had been going on a downhill route for a long time, and I wouldn't be surprised. I just didn't want to see him make a wrong decision that he would regret.

The pair of us looked down as we saw Rick walking up the stairs to the perch. He slowed down as he saw us, an almost guilty look on his face. Both of us remained silent as we ate our food, watching Rick as he came to a standstill before us.

"You need any help today?" Benny asked.

"I'm fine right now," Rick said. "I'll call you if I need anything. If you're stuck for things to do, just ask someone else. I'm sure they'll have something for you to do."

Rick nodded his head at us and then walked off in the direction of Merle's cell, which had been moved up to the upper floor a couple of nights ago. I frowned as he shiftily entered the cell. Merle's voice could briefly be heard, but then their tones dropped to a hushed noise and I couldn't hear anything that they were saying.

"That confirms it," I said, standing up. "He'll have Merle do his dirty work. He's not the kind of person to willingly hand over someone against their free will."

"So, what are we gonna do?" Benny sighed.

"We're going to do nothing, Ben. As much as I don't like it, we can't. Rick made a call and we always follow his calls. If he thinks that's the right thing to do, then okay. I doubt Michonne will go down without a fight though."

"Do we mention it to her? Give her a chance?"

"No… No, we can't. They can't know that we know anything. Let's just keep it on the down low, okay? Nobody wants to have the blame pinned on them."

My brother nodded and I sighed. I didn't want to play the game this way, but I knew that I didn't have much of a choice. I took Benny's empty plate from him and made my way downstairs and out into the main area of the block, heading over to the wash basin so that I could clean up the plates that we had used. Carol often scolded us when we didn't do things right around here.

Outside, work was in full swing as usual. Glenn, Michonne and Daryl were laying down racks of what seemed to be nails. I wandered over to them as they sat in the bed of the truck, driving every few metres before hopping out and laying down another rack. Daryl smiled at me as he passed.

"What's going on here?" I asked Glenn as he followed Daryl.

"Blown tyres will do a charm holding them back," He answered me. "It was Michonne's idea. A real good one at that, too."

"You need a hand?"

"If you want, you can drive the truck. I think Michonne's getting a bit annoyed behind the wheel. Besides, you're a lot more patient in the driving seat."

I laughed lightly, heading on over to the cab of the truck and tapping on the window. Michonne swung open the car door. I felt slightly guilty when I saw her sitting there smiling, but I knew that I couldn't let anything on.

"I'll drive, if you want," I offered. "I know it can be a pain not getting to join in."

She said nothing, but she nodded. She clambered out of the car and headed on over to help the boys while I hopped into her previous position. I waited a few moments until Glenn thumped his hand on the hood of the truck, letting me know that I could start up the engine and roll forward a few more metres. It would have probably been possible to carry the racks along, but our group seemed to be getting lazier by the second. It didn't really matter, though. We were getting the job done.

I sat in the cab of the truck, drumming my nails against the steering wheel. A tap on the window caused me to turn my head and notice Daryl standing there. I rolled down the window, wondering why it was even up in the first place, and he leant in closer to me.

"What was that stunt last night?" He asked with a laugh.

"It wasn't a stunt," I rolled my eyes. "It was cold and I couldn't sleep. I don't know how you managed to nod off… I must have been up all night."

He looked at me with concern. My eyes must have been bloodshot and surrounded by bags, but I didn't necessarily feel tired. I was more jittery than usual.

"Ya should get some rest," Daryl commented. "We can't have ya collapsing. At least go inside and take a break."

"If I couldn't sleep at night, I definitely won't be able to sleep when it's day," I sighed.

"Try."

His last comment was that command. I just shrugged it off. If I could handle being out and about on the move, then there was no reason that I shouldn't be doing it. As the day went on, Rick approached us during our work. At this point, I was leant up against the side of the truck, securing some nails into the racks with a hammer that Glenn had handed me.

"They try to drive up to the gate again, maybe some blown tyres will stop them," Glenn explained to Rick as he worked.

"That's a good idea," Rick smiled.

"It was Michonne's," Daryl added.

Daryl and Rick then resumed talking heatedly to each other a little bit away from the rest of the group. I watched them curiously, knowing what it was about. Michonne wasn't paying attention and Glenn only briefly looked at me, to which I shrugged.

When we had finished up in the yard, I was the first to retire for the day and head back inside. It was unusually quiet inside and I realised that it was because I couldn't here Merle's loud southern accent. Benny was hammering some wooden pallets into place when I passed him. I moved my aching legs upstairs and walked into my cell, collapsing on the mattress and closing my eyes.

I must have been asleep for longer than I had expected. Voices were coming from nearby when I woke up. Not directly outside of my cell, but close enough.

"You seen Merle around?" Daryl was asking. "He say he was sorry yet? 'Cause he is. He's gonna make it right. I'm gonna make him. There's got to be a way. Just needs to be a little forgiveness is all."

**"**He tied me to a chair, beat me, and threw a Walker in the room," Came Glenn's cold reply. "Maybe I could call it even. But he – he took Maggie to a man who terrorised her, humiliated her. I care more about her than I care about me."

There was silence before a set of footsteps walked further away. I assumed that it was Glenn heading towards Maggie's cell. I groaned under my breath as I sat up in bed, running a hand through my already messy hair. It was still light outside, from what I could see from my cell.

Footsteps moved towards my cell and Daryl was suddenly leaning in the doorway, blocking off all the light that I had previously seen. I smiled reluctantly at him as I swung my legs off the side of the bed and stood up, stretching out.

"Did ya sleep alright?" He asked me.

"I slept fine," I nodded. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah… yeah, everything's okay. I'm gonna head down into the tombs and look around for Merle, okay? I ain't seen him for a bit and who knows what he's up to left on his own."

"He's helping Rick."

The words blurted from my mouth before I could even filter my thoughts. My eyes widened slightly and Daryl looked at me in confusion, his eyebrows raised.

"Why's he helping Rick?"

"I… I dunno. Rick went into Merle's cell earlier, so I can only assume that Rick was asking him for a favour. Why? Do you know what it's about?"

"Huh… Maybe I do."

I nodded as Daryl mulled over what I had just said. Without another word, he turned on his heel and hastily made his way towards the tombs. I sighed and made my way downstairs, walking out into the block. I slowed down when I saw that Hershel, Maggie and Beth were all sat holding hands around a table. Others were in the room, watching them, but we all remained silent. I sat on a counter nearby, listening to Hershel's words as I waited for Daryl's return.

"Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night. Not for the arrow that flieth by day. Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness. Nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. 1,000 shall fall at thy side, and 10,000 at thy right hand. But it shall not come nigh three. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee and under his wings shalt thou trust. There shall no evil befall thee. Neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling."

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Carol tearing up slightly. Hershel really was such a beautiful man who did everything out of the good of his heart. I bowed my head and closed my eyes. His prayer may have not been intended for all of us as a whole, but I wanted to reflect those words to my extended family. I wanted for my people to be safe and to survive this, even more than I wanted to for myself. I'd never been much of a religious person, but Hershel's words had struck me as the kind that whoever was in control above wouldn't mind listening to from a stranger every now and then.

During the time that my eyes had been closed, I hadn't even realised that Daryl had returned. He leant beside me on the counter and I smiled briefly at him. Everyone stood around in the room, apart from Michonne and Merle. Worry filled me and I knew then that I should have done something to stop it. Merle was going to hand over Michonne to the Governor. But the cruel man wouldn't stop because he had gotten one thing that he wanted. He wanted the prison, and therefore he wanted all of our lives or surrenders. Michonne was just a pawn he was playing. He wasn't through. In a way, betraying Michonne meant nothing. It wouldn't do anything.

"When I met with the Governor, he offered me a deal. He said – he said he would leave us alone if I gave him Michonne. And I was gonna do that… to keep us safe. I changed my mind. But now Merle took Michonne to fulfil the deal and Daryl went to stop him and I don't know if it's too late. I was front not to tell you. And I'm sorry What I said last year, that first night after the farm… it can't be like that. It can't. What we do, what we're willing to do, who we are, it's not my call. It can't be. I couldn't sacrifice one of us for the greater good because we are the greater good. We're the reason we're still here, not me. This is life and death. How you live… how you die – it isn't up to me. I'm not your Governor. We choose to go. We choose to stay. We stick together. We vote. We can stay and we can fight or we can go."


End file.
